Sweet November
by Tara4
Summary: Ron bets Hermione that she cant move in with him and relax for the month of November. But while doing nothing, the two realise they have infact done something, fallen in love.
1. chapter 1

Sweet November  
  
Disclaimer: - I do not own the characters of Harry Potter, I also don't really own the plot of this, because it is loosly based off of a Keanu Reeves Film called Sweet November (See, I was even to lazy to change the name.  
  
Summary - Ron bets Hermione that she couldn't relax and do nothing for a month. She gives it a try, but they both end up doing something very major.falling in love.  
  
A/N: Where the hell is Order of Pheonix already!!!!!  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~*  
  
"Jessie!"  
  
"Yes, Miss Granger"  
  
"Where are the reports I asked you for, they should have been on my desk an hour ago!"  
  
"Y..yes Miss Granger, Sorry, Miss Granger"  
  
"That is quite alright Jessie, just, have them in here as soon as possible"  
  
"Yes miss Granger"  
  
Hermione sighed and rubbed her eyes, realising that she had been harsh to Jessie, her receptionist and assistant. The day had just been long, just as the day before, and the week before. Every day seemed to multiply in length lately.  
  
So much work to do, but not enough time to do it in, that was Hermione's problem, when she had taken the promotion to head of Magical Education at the Ministry of magic, she had in no way thought it had all be this challenging.  
  
But Hermione loved a challenge, She loved to take a problem and make it a solution, she loved the up lifting feeling that she would get when she would help some one, or work along side some one. Hermione loved to make a difference.  
  
Hermione had dedicated her life in the Magic world to making a difference. To helping those who needed her help, even if it was something small and insignificant, such as helping one of her classmates with schoolwork. Hermione had also been by Harry's side when he defeated the dark lord. That had left her with the best feeling of Helpfulness, a feeling the she was going to continue through her life.  
  
So Hermione had become a teacher, at Hogwarts, but it was soon that many members of the ministry of magic saw her potential, offering her a promotion to the head of Magical education. Hermione accepted, and now, at age 22, she was the youngest Head of Department the ministry had ever seen (and the most efficient)  
  
But working hard did have its downfalls. Hermione never seemed to have any time for herself any more. She longed to just sit in her apartment (which she had hardly seen in the last few months) and just read a book. Hermione wanted to just go out with her friends (the ones she still had) and have a good time. It felt like forever since Hermione had seen Harry or Ron. But that was only because they had contrasting schedules.  
  
Harry was a seeker of the Cannons, and involved in a lot of different organisations to help the victims of Voldemorts last attacks. When he wasn't playing Quidditch, he was practicing Quidditch, and when he wasn't practicing Quidditch, he was travelling around the Wizarding world, talking to victims and their families, helping in any way that he could. Harry felt obligated to each and every person that was affected by the dark lord,  
  
Ron had a job at the ministry with Hermione, but she wasn't really sure that he actually did work. Every time that Hermione saw him, he was just bumming around, flirting with his secretary and making silly memos to send to people. But, they had not fired him yet, so she guessed that he actually did do a little bit of work on something.  
  
The door to Hermione's office opened and a very rattled looking Jessie came in, placing a few folders of parchment onto her desk.  
  
"I am sorry I snapped at you Jessie" Hermione told her, the young girl nodded and turned to leave the room. She got to the door and turned back.  
  
"Your 1 o'clock lunch meeting is here, would you like me to send him in?" Jessie asked. Hermione stopped and thought for a few seconds, she didn't have a lunch date for today. Digging through the piles of paper on the desk and coming out with a date book, she looked it up.  
  
"I don't have a lunch meeting today Jessie, I don't have any meetings today" Hermione replied, Jessie smiled.  
  
"Maybe you forgot to write it down, Miss Granger." Jessie told her.  
  
"Yes, Maybe" Hermione replied.  
  
"So should I send him in?" Jessie asked.  
  
"Yes.but first, who is he?" Hermione asked, Jessie laughed as she was pushed gently out of the way when a blur of red hair and blue robes bounded into the office.  
  
"He is your devilishly handsome best friend" Ron announced as he sat on her desk. Hermione shook her head at him, smiling in spite herself.  
  
"Ronald Weasley, since when have you been 'Devilishly Handsome'?" Hermione asked. Ron looked as though he was thinking hard, mumbling little things to himself ("Add one more year, Carry the 2.")  
  
"I don't know, how old am I now" Ron grinned. Hermione slapped him on the arm.  
  
"Are you coming to lunch?" He asked.  
  
"Not today Ron" She replied sadly.  
  
"Why not, what is more important that having lunch with your best friend?" He pouted.  
  
"Are you blind?" She exclaimed, gesturing around all of the work that had to be done before she could go home that night.  
  
"No, just illiterate.come to lunch, you know you want to" Ron tempted, Hermione sighed and stood, taking Ron by the arm with considerable strength, and escorting him to the door.  
  
"I cant, I have work to do" Hermione said, throwing him back out into the hall and shutting the door. Just as Hermione turned around, there was a pop, and Ron apparated back into the room.  
  
"You, me, lunch, NOW" Ron told her.  
  
"You, away, me working, NOW" Hermione shot back and tried to walk around Ron so she could get back to her desk. Ron kept blocking her.  
  
"Hermione, I am sorry, but you give me no choice." Ron began and then wrapped his arms around Hermione's waist, throwing her up over his shoulder.  
  
"RONALD WEASLEY, PUT ME DOWN THIS INSTANT" Hermione yelled, Ron just laughed as he moved to the door of Hermione's office.  
  
"Jessie, Miss Granger is on her lunch break" Ron told Jessie as they walked past her desk. Jessie laughed as Hermione kicked and punched, trying to get Ron to put her down.  
  
"Very well, Mr Weasley"  
  
And with that, Ron carried Hermione off down the hall.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
"I still cant believe you did that Ron, I am so embarrassed, did you see how many people were giving us weird looks, I have to work with these people!" Hermione ranted as Ron finally let her down at the door out side a local Wizards restraunt.  
  
"What, and I don't have to work with these people?" Ron asked, still laughing.  
  
"Would you stop laughing before I slap you Weasley!" Hermione told him, Ron just laughed a little more.  
  
"You need to lighten up, you are so tense!" Ron said, moving behind her to massage her back. Hermione smiled, Ron gave really good massages, but she stepped away. That was a Ron Weasley diversion technique, he used it to make her forget just how angry she was at him.  
  
"Stop, That is not going to work on me today, I am to pissed off at you!" Hermione explained, this time drawing glances from the other customers of the restraunt. Ron laughed at the shade of red that she just turned.  
  
"But seriously Hermione" Ron began, as he pulled out a chair for Hermione "You need to relax a bit, take some time off and just chill"  
  
"I cant Ron, and you know that I cant, I have to much stuff to get through"  
  
"Hermione, when was the last time you had a holiday?" He asked seriously. Hermione sighed.  
  
"I have never taken a holiday" She admitted.  
  
"Exactly, Hermione, take a holiday, you have been working for the ministry for almost 4 years now, you are entitled to your holiday time" Ron told her.  
  
"But you know that I can't take time." Hermione began, but Ron cut her off.  
  
"Lets pretend that I don't know that shall we. I am a concerned friend just looking out for you, take a break before you have a mental, emotional and or physical breakdown!" He told her.  
  
"But." Hermione started.  
  
"I am probably wasting my breath though, because I know that you wouldn't be able to last a week with out going back to your anal-retentive, perfectionist self" Ron told her. Hermione sat there fuming, she hated it when people said that she couldn't do some thing.  
  
"I so could go a week with out being that person" Hermione replied.  
  
"I don't believe you" Ron smiled.  
  
"I could go longer, 2 weeks even, maybe even a month!" Hermione shot back.  
  
"I bet you couldn't! I bet you couldn't go a month with out coming to work or doing something work related" Ron told her.  
  
"I so could!" She told him.  
  
"Fine, put you money where your mouth is, I bet that you cant take a month off of work and move in with me, living my carefree and joyous lifestyle of doing nothing." Ron smiled, Hermione thought about it for a few second, he was not the type of person to back out of a dare or a bet.  
  
"Well, then, you are on Weasley, I accept your bet!" Hermione smiled, extending her hand across the table. Ron shook it.  
  
"So, what do I get when I win?" Ron smiled. Hermione laughed.  
  
"What do I get when I win is the correct question!" She replied. Ron laughed.  
  
"Ok, what does the winner get" Ron asked.  
  
"If I win, you have to . spend all your spare time as my office assistant" Hermione told him.  
  
"And if I win, I only want one thing" Ron started.  
  
"Yes, and what is that?" Hermione asked  
  
"Your body" Ron told her seriously. He held her gaze for a few seconds before bursting out laughing, Hermione threw her bread roll at him.  
  
"You are a moron" she laughed.  
  
"Well, I don't know what I want, but I will work it out.when I win" Ron smiled.  
  
"Keep dreaming Weasley, it will never happen." 


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2  
  
DISCLAIMER - Still not mine  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Woof Woof Woof, Ark Ark  
  
"Yappy, shut up" Ron said to the yapping, barking dog at his feet, the dog whimpered and sat, looking up at his owner with big, brown eyes.  
  
"Ron, How long have you had a dog?" Hermione asked, Ron smiled and moved the dog out of the way, dumping Hermione's bag onto the floor by the chair.  
  
"Since about two girlfriends ago" He replied, taking Hermione's second bag and placing it with the first. "She thought it would be strengthing to our relationship if we had some sort of bond, so she turns up the next day with a puppy"  
  
"Oh, Why did you break up with her, what happened?" Hermione asked, she couldn't believe that she didn't know that her best friend had a dog, come to think about it, she had never been to Ron's apartment before.  
  
"What happened? Well... um, my last girlfriend happened" He replied, Hermione smirked and then moved further into the room, looking at a few of the artifacts that Ron had spread around the room. On the mantel peice above the fireplace, there was a picture of his family as well as a picture of Herself, Ron and Harry at their Hogwarts graduation, the last day that the three of them were really in the same place at the same time.  
  
Sure, they had all seen each other since that day, but they usually had to plan to get together. And usually, they were not completely there, they were physically there, but mentally and emotionally, Hermione was back at the office, Harry was at a Quidditch pitch, and Ron...well...Ron was somewhere different altogether.  
  
It was amazing how much Hermione didn't know about Ron, they were best friends, but they had severly lost touch. Hermione didn't know that he had moved out of the Burrow into his own place, she didn't know what he did for a living, and she didn't know what number girlfriend he was up to. If one good thing was to come of them living together, it would be that they would get to know each other again.  
  
Hermione had had not trouble getting time off of work. When she had told her boss (the minister of magic) that she wanted to pool all of her holiday and sick days together so that she could take a day off, the man almost cheered. Every one knew that Hermione was all about her work, and they all agreed that she needed the time off. So she was granted her month off.  
  
Jessie had laughed when Hermione had told her that Ron had talked her into moving in with him for the month. Jessie had been her assistant for a while, and understood that she needed a break, but she also knew that Mr Weasley had a bit of a reputation as a party animal and ladies man. Jessie was caught some where between pity and jealously.  
  
But here she was, in Ron's living room. She was really going to do this, she was really going to spend a month doing nothing. Could she do it?  
  
"You have never been here before have you?" Ron asked, Hermione dhook her head. "Well, the bedrooms and bathroom is up stairs, the laundry is downstairs, the kitchen and pretty much everything else is on this floor. You'll find everything after a little while."  
  
Ron picked up the bags and led Hermione to the stair case that went upstairs to the bedrooms. Hermione climbed the stairs behind Ron, glancing at the photographs and paintings on the walls. There were more pictures of her and Harry, as well as more pictures of Ron's family adn other friends from Hogwarts.  
  
"Right, Lady Hermione, this is your bedroom for the next month, I hope you find it to your liking, and if you don't, then, to bad" Ron smiled, opening the door and allowing Hermione to look around the guest bedroom. Hermione smiled.  
  
"It is nice" She smiled sarcastically at the bright pink painted walls and the sky blue canopy bed.  
  
"Yeah, that is what Ginny said when she decorated it. Personally, this room gives me a headache, so enjoy, it is now yours" Ron smiled. Hermione threw her bags on the bed and unzipped them.  
  
"What are you doing?" Ron asked, crossing his arms across himself and leaning against the door frame.  
  
"I thought that would be obvious, I am unpacking" Hermione smiled.  
  
"No, that is work" Ron replied, moving into the room. Hermione rolled her eyes.  
  
"You have got to be kidding me, you wont even let me unpack?" She asked, Ron smiled.  
  
"No, I will pack for you, you just have to sit there and do nothing but watch" He told her, sitting her down on the bed. He finished undoing the zips on the cases and then, before Hermione could protest, dumped all of the clothing out onto the bed.  
  
"Ron! They were all neatly folded!" Hermione exclaimed.  
  
"Tut! Tut! Hemrione, worrying is considered work in my book" Ron smiled as he messed up her clothing a little more.  
  
"But you could have just put them all away, neatly folded" Hermione protest.  
  
"Granger, have you ever known me to be neat?" He asked, Hermione sighed.  
  
"No, i guess not" Hermione replied.  
  
"1, 2, 3, I count three sets of business robes Hermione, and what, pray tell, do you expect to do with these robes if you are not going into the office?" Ron asked.  
  
"I dont know, I just packed them" She replied.  
  
"Now, this, you deffinately had the right idea packing these!" Ron smiled, holding up a pair of skimpy underwear "Granger, who would have known that under those robes and behind that desk you wear things like this! you have been holding out on us all"  
  
"That" She exclaimed, pulling her undergarments out of Ron's hands "Is none of your business, and you will never see them again!"  
  
"Oh, i have a feeling that I will be seeing them again real soon" Ron replied.  
  
"Really, and why is that?" Hermione asked  
  
"i want you wearing them when I cash in on my prize" Ron replied, smiling as Hermione turned bright red due to a mixture of anger and embarrasement.  
  
"I dont consider packing my clothes as work, could I please put all of these away?" Hermione asked.  
  
"No, I will put them away..." He told her and when she began to protest, he placed a hand on her lips. "Even your unmentionables"  
  
Hermione watched as Ron roughly folded her clothes and then stuffed them into the draw all over the place. She wanted to tell him off so many times, but decieded to stay quiet.  
  
"And if I come back and see that you have folded these properly, then I will have to tickle you to death"  
  
"You are doing this to torture me, you monster" Hermione told him.  
  
"Hermione, Hermione, Hermione, I am not doing this to torture you, I am doing this to help you. I dont want you to get to your dying day and look back and say your biggest accomplishment in life was neatly folded clothing. No one wishes that they ever did more cleaning." Ron replied. "Come now dear, let us get dinner prepared"  
  
Ron took Hermione's hand and pulled her from the room. Hermione kept looking back over her shoulder at her room where her messed up clothes were.  
  
"Eyes on the future Hermione" Ron laughed. Hermione just sighed.  
  
"Accio Telephone!" Ron exclaimed, pulling out his wand and calling a muggle telephone to him.  
  
"You have a phone?" Hermione asked, Ron smiled at her.  
  
"Of course I do, I cant be assistant head of department of misuse of muggle artifacts with out one" Ron replied and walked off down the hall. Hermione stood on the stairs, her mouth hanging open. Ron was assistant Head of department! How could she not have known that?  
  
Hermione went after him down the hall, she entered the kitchen with just soon enough to hear him on the phone.  
  
"Yes, two large Pizza's, delivered thank you"  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
CARLYD - I haven't seen all of Sweet Novemeber, so who dies? is it her or him? 


	3. Chapter 3

I am really sorry that this chapter is so short. And I am sorry that it took me so long to get my rear into gear and get it written. I have been supper doper busy studying and stuff.  
  
This chapter isn't as funny as the others, but it just sort of fills in a bit of the back story of what years 5-7 at Hogwarts was like for Harry, Ron and Hermione.  
  
I am thinking of throwing Ginny and Harry into one of the next chapters (probably not as a couple though, I have a theory on them that kind of throws me off G/H fics.Draco Ginny forever. I might throw Draco in to) Tell me if you want them in there, or any other characters that you want in there, your wish is my command. (just forewarning, if you suggest Snape, I may not comply, I don't exactly like him. But if enough of you say Snape, then you will get Snape.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
"You are so full of surprises" Hermione exclaimed as she flopped down on the lounge chair. Ron held up his hand and told her to shush.  
  
"What is this crap?" Hermione asked, indicating to the television show that he was watching.  
  
"It is an American soap opera, now will you constipate your verbal diarrhea, I have to see this bit." Ron told her. Hermione sat quietly as the bottle blonde on the screen bitch slapped the middle aged woman who had stolen her husband.  
  
Ron sat captivated as the story progressed, it turned out that the blonde "Summer" had slapped her mother "Riley" for stealing her husband "Blake". But it turns out that Riley was doing Summer a favor, because the cliffhanger of the episode was that Blake was secretly gay, having an affair with Summers brother "Hunter"  
  
"Wasn't that an excellent episode, I mean, who would have guessed, Blake and Hunter?" Ron said seriously, standing and moving to the kitchen.  
  
"Please tell me you do not seriously watch that crap!" Hermione exclaimed, standing and following him out of the room.  
  
"I do watch it, it is a very good show" Ron replied, and then dug around in the fridge. "What are we going to have for dinner. Pizza or Chinese"  
  
"Neither, I am going to cook" Hermione told him.  
  
"Oh no you are not, that is considered work" Ron replied, picking up his mobile phone from the dining room table. ("What, I have connections who are Muggles" he told her when Hermione had asked.)  
  
"Then what is going to be considered work? I can't live off of greasy boxed food for the next month." Hermione told him.  
  
"Well, I don't know, we both have different ideas of what working is.I mean, cleaning, I consider that the hardest work of all, where you."  
  
"If it has to be done, it has to be done, and if it has to be done then I don't consider it work" Hermione told him. Ron took a few seconds to register what she had said.  
  
"Do you think before you open your mouth, for a smart woman that made absolutely no sense" He told her.  
  
"It did so make sense" She replied.  
  
"I am pretty sure that you had at least one grammatical error in that Sentence Mione. You are the minister for education, I expected better" Ron replied in a mocking tone, sounding very much like his mother. .  
  
Hermione paused and looked at Ron. It had been years since he had called her Mione. She never liked being called Mione, but Ron and Harry had always known they could get away with it as a term of endearment. They had started it in their fifth year, and back then it was a joke.  
  
At the time, she was still dating Viktor Krum, and he still couldn't say her name right. She was getting sick of being called "Her-mo-ninny", so she had told him to just call her "Mione" (He couldn't even say that, he would call her "My-own-ee")  
  
So when Viktor sent her a letter addressed to "Mione" (at least he could spell it properly) the boys were never going to let her live it down. They would call her Mione, almost as an insult. But in some ways, Hermione didn't mind, she could tell they were only joking.  
  
But when Hermione broke up with Viktor, they stopped jokingly calling her Mione, and started calling her that for real. It seemed much more intimate for their close friendship, and it also was a lot easier to say than Hermione.  
  
But after graduation, it had slipped back to Hermione, and the boys wouldn't call her anything other than that. Her professionalism while she finished her further learning course, and then got her job, discouraged the boys from calling her Mione.  
  
"Mione, what's up, I asked you something.are you ok?" Ron asked, snapping Hermione back into the present.  
  
"Yeah, I am fine, just, no one has called me Mione in years" Hermione told him.  
  
"Oh, you don't want me to?" He asked.  
  
"No, you can call Mione if you want, I really like it." She smiled sincerely.  
  
"Any way, I said, isn't it hypocritical for you to be making basic education errors?" He smiled at her, brushing his red hair out of his eyes.  
  
"There was nothing wrong with the sentence Weasley, get over it." She laughed.  
  
Ron had missed this, the bickering and silly little fights that he used to have on a daily basis. He used to love play fighting with Hermione like this, he used to even anticipate it, starting petty little arguments with her.  
  
They had not really had a serious fight with Hermione since their third year when he had accused Crookshanks of killing Scabbers. (No in some cases, he wished that the god awful cat had killed the disgusting and pitiful Wormtail.)  
  
They had their daily arguments through the rest of their Hogwarts days,. But it was never more serious than some silly school thing.  
  
"Hey, earth to Ron, come in Ron!" Hermione exclaimed, waving her hand in front of his face.  
  
"Sorry Mione, what?"  
  
"I said, what about reading, to you consider reading as work?" She asked. Ron looked at her. He could tell by the tone in her voice that she didn't want him to take away her reading privileges.  
  
"No, I guess reading can be very relaxing" Ron smiled. He was going to be harsh on her for the next month, but there is not way that she would take books away from Hermione, that would push him over the border from helpful friend to heartless dickhead.  
  
"Thank you" She smiled.  
  
"But, would you agree to letting me approve the books. I am ok with you reading, but I don't want you learning" He told her.  
  
"Ok"  
  
Ron's digital watch beeped, and he squealed (quite girlishly)  
  
"Oh, Hermione, come on, Passions is on!!!!" He exclaimed. "This one is so cool, there is this crazy old witch." 


	4. Chapter 4

Hello all.  
  
This is the next chapter, hope you like it.  
  
DISCLAIMER - It all belongs to Rowling  
  
Hermione stepped out onto the cold tile floor of Ron's bathroom and rubbed a fluffy towel over her hair, then wrapped it tightly around her body. She shivered and brushed a few drops of water off of her shoulder and then ran her hands through her hair, leaving it in an endearingly messy way. Hermione stopped herself from reaching for her brush, deciding she like this new style.  
  
The phone in the living room began to ring.  
  
"Ron, can you get that!" She yelled, but the phone kept ringing.  
  
"Ron, I am just out of the shower, can you answer the phone please?" Hermione yelled, but once again, the phone kept ringing.  
  
"Oh bugger" she sighed, and then, with her wet feet sliding on the tiled floor, she carefully padded out into the living room.  
  
Hermione stopped dead at the door. Not only was the phone still ringing, but Ron was stretched out on the couch, only centimeters away.  
  
"Ron are you deaf?" Hermione yelled. Ron looked over to her, and then indicated that he was watching TV.  
  
She groaned and picked up the phone.  
  
"Hello, Ron Weasley's phone, Hermione Granger speaking" Hermione answered, that just made Ron burst out laughing.  
  
"Is that how you answer the phone?" He asked.  
  
"Oh, shut up you" she sighed, and then turned back to the phone.  
  
"And why are you answering the phone in a towel?" He asked. Hermione sighed, she felt like yelling at him, because she knew for sure that he knew the answer. Instead, she just did the easiest thing. She flipped him the finger.  
  
"Sorry about that, hello" Hermione said, addressing the phone again.  
  
"Umm, hello Hermione" The familiar voice replied.  
  
"Harry!!" She exclaimed "Harry, it is so good to talk to you again."  
  
"Yeah, it is good to talk to you as well, but, why are you at Ron's house?" He asked.  
  
"Oh it is a very long story, but I am living here temporarily for about a month" Hermione replied.  
  
"Oh, I see" Harry smiled. There was suspicion in his voice.  
  
"No Harry, it is nothing like that." She began, but cut herself off when she shrieked. There was something attacking her neck. That something was Ron.  
  
Ron was murmuring something into her neck, something along the lines of "Don't worry Hermione, it is Harry, he will understand" Apparently Harry could hear him, because he was laughing.  
  
"It is not like that at all" Hermione told Harry.  
  
"Don't listen to her Harry" Ron said, stealing the phone from Hermione's hand. "She is here, shacked up in my little love nest, and we never even leave the bedroom if we don't want to"  
  
"What ever, in your dreams Weasley" Hermione told him, tightening her towel around her body.  
  
"Oh, Love you to Mione Baby" Ron smiled, and then went back to talking to Harry. Hermione shook her head and then moved off to her room so that she could get dressed.  
  
Pulling open the draws, the realized that she had been at Ron's house for two days, and she was yet to tidy the mess that he had caused to her things. Her hands itched to fold them properly. But she stopped. A month wasn't that long, she could deal with it.  
  
She dressed in a pair of muggle jeans, and was just about to put on a shirt (over her bra, of course) when her bedroom door opened. She jumped back and tried to pull her shirt down, but it got caught around her neck.  
  
"Ron, don't you knock?" She asked, still struggling with the shirt.  
  
"Why, I have seen it all before" Ron told her.  
  
"Not on me you haven't" Hermione reminded him. She was still trying to pull her shirt down, but it still wasn't going to budge.  
  
"You have exactly the same pieces as all of my girlfriends Hermione" He moved across the room, and untangled her from the shirt. "Although, I will admit, that you pieces are nicer"  
  
"Well, thank you, I think"  
  
"No seriously Hermione, you are a woman" Ron laughed. Hermione slapped his arm. They both remembered the time in fourth year when he had said something along the same lines, realizing she was a girl.  
  
"Thank you" She couldn't help but blush slightly. Ron laughed and then jumped onto her bed. Hermione winced as she heard one of the wooden slats on the bed crack.  
  
"Harry is coming over for dinner tonight" Ron smiled. Hermione couldn't help the grin that broke out on her face. It had been at least a year since Hermione had seen Harry. She missed him so much.  
  
"Cool, then I should start cooking dinner soon" Hermione sighed.  
  
"No, that is work!" Ron told her.  
  
"Oh, for the love of all that is holy and cheese like" Hermione exclaimed.  
  
"I will let you conjure something, but you are not going to cook." He told her. Hermione smiled, and then moved through the house to the kitchen again. She pointed her wand to the dining room table and muttered a few words.  
  
Plates of mashed potatoes and pumpkin, peas, carrots and corn covered the table, as well as a large roast turkey.  
  
"Hermione, there will only be three of us at dinner, not all of Gryffindor" He told her, she went to hit him.  
  
"I just wanted everything to be special; I haven't seen Harry in the longest time." Hermione replied.  
  
"Then you don't know that Harry no longer eats meat" Ron smiled, leaning against the doorframe of the eating room. Hermione looked at him, and then burst out laughing.  
  
"Harry? A vegetarian, I will believe it when I see it" Hermione smiled, but then sighed. It was highly probable that Harry was now a vegetarian and she didn't know it. There was a lot of things that she didn't know about Harry. She had been so busy lately; she hadn't realized how much she actually did miss them.  
  
Ron sensed what she was thinking, and then came into the room. He did a quick spell, exchanging the Turkey for a tofu turkey. "I know you are regretting not keeping in contact with him Hermione"  
  
"Regret." she sighed. Hermione never thought that she would ever regret anything, especially how much work she did and how much she achieved. She never believed that her education and dedication would make her feel bad about herself. But it was now.  
  
She was Regretting not speaking to Harry and Ron as often. She didn't understand that her working was diminishing their friendship. If she could go back, she would make more time to spend with the boys. She would spend more time just talking and laughing with them. Maybe then she wouldn't feel so left out.  
  
"It is ok Hermione; I will help you get back into the swing of things"  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Hermione and Harry shared the tightest hug that they could manage, almost squeezing the life out of each other. They were both reluctant to let go of each other. It felt so good, just to hold a great, lost friend in your arms.  
  
"All right, All right, break it up, I want to hug the hero" Ron smiled, wedging himself into the hug, Hermione smiled.  
  
They had a great dinner, chatting about anything and everything that came to mind. After dinner they moved to the living room, and opened a bottle of wine.  
  
"So Hermione, you still haven't told me about your work as minister of education" Harry smiled. Hermione moved to open her mouth, but Ron cut her off.  
  
"I am sorry Harry, but Hermione has is not even allowed to talk about her work" Ron told him, Harry looked between his two best friends, confused.  
  
"Explanation would be much appreciated about now"  
  
"He bet me not to do any work or talk about work for a whole month.and I think that I am doing really well." Hermione smiled.  
  
"How long has it been?" Harry asked.  
  
"2 days" Ron told him, Harry chuckled. "The withdrawals haven't started yet; soon she will be shaking and begging me to just let her hold a quill."  
  
"And you are not going to let her, huh?" Harry smiled.  
  
"You gotta be cruel to be kind" Ron smiled, taking a sip of his wine. Harry laughed.  
  
She missed this, she missed just sitting around, talking to Ron and Harry at the same time.  
  
"I have a home game on Saturday afternoon; I would really like to see some familiar faces in the crowd. Can you guys come?" Harry asked.  
  
"Sure, we would love to go" Hermione smiled. Harry nodded happily.  
  
"I have really missed you Mione" Harry told her. Hermione nodded.  
  
"I missed you to Harry, I am really sorry. It was all my fault that we haven't spoken in such a long time" Hermione told him.  
  
"Yeah, Mione, it was all your fault that I was traveling all over the world all the time, it is all your fault that I have always forgotten to send you and owl or drop by the ministry, it is your fault that I was always to busy" Harry told her, smiling. "Don't blame yourself, it is as much my fault, if not yours"  
  
"You're right, maybe it is your fault" Hermione smiled.  
  
The hours slipped past quickly as the three friends sat and talked, remembering and gossiping about their Hogwarts days. They explained what they had been up to the last years. What they had done, what they were planning on doing. They even arranged to try and get together once a week for drinks in Diagon Alley.  
  
Hermione yawned and stretched. "I think I am going to go to bed, it is really getting late"  
  
"Ok, goodnight Hermione" Harry smiled. Hermione kissed his cheek and then moved to leave the room.  
  
"Where is my kiss good night?" Ron asked, Hermione smiled and kissed him on the cheek, after one last smiled, she left the room.  
  
Harry turned to Ron, a look of suspicion on his face.  
  
"What?" Harry asked.  
  
"Ok, I got her side of the story, now what is really going on with you and her?" Harry asked. Ron smiled and stood, collecting the wine glasses and moving off to the kitchen, Harry followed close behind.  
  
"Me and Hermione are just friends, there is nothing more" Ron told him. Harry laughed.  
  
"What ever Ron, I know there is something more" Harry told him.  
  
"Harry, give it up, divinations was never your strong point" Ron replied, rinsing the glasses.  
  
"This is not star charts and tea leaves Ron, this is so damn obvious. Ok, granted I have not seen you in a few months, and I have not seen Hermione in a lot longer, but I still remember what you guys are like just before you have a crush on some one. You are acting towards her the same way you did in sixth year." Harry accused.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Sixth year, just before you thought that you were in love with her, you were acting like this around her" Harry replied.  
  
"I am not in love with Hermione. I love Hermione, but I am not IN love with Hermione" Ron said.  
  
"What ever"  
  
"Not what ever Harry. I don't feel that way about her" Ron told him, running his hands through his hair.  
  
"Then why is she here?" Harry asked.  
  
"She is here so that I can help her relax" Ron explained.  
  
"No Ron.Why is she REALLY here?" And with that, and a quick, "see you Saturday" Harry left.  
  
  
  
Ok, so I hope you like this chapter, it is a little longer than the last one.  
  
Umm, well, I hope I didn't confuse you to much with the whole "Ron was in love with Hermione in 6th year thing, I am going to explain that better next chapter. 


	5. Chapter 5

Hey all, sorry to say this one is really really really short. (Hobbit sized even)  
  
This one is just all thoughts.  
  
Hope you like it, I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive the shortness and review.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Damn Harry Potter.  
  
Hell, while you are at it, Damn Ronald Weasley as well.  
  
Hermione lay in bed, staring at the ceiling of the hideously decorated room. She couldn't sleep, there was too much on her mind.  
  
She had heard everything that they had said after she went to bed.  
  
What did Harry mean it was all so obvious? What did Harry mean that Ron had acted like this when he had been in love with her in sixth year? What did Harry mean when he said that Ron had been in love with her in sixth year?  
  
Hermione had never thought that Ron or Harry could ever have feelings for her in any other way other than friendship. True, they all admitted that they loved each other like family; they admired each other, and maybe even sometimes envied each other. But love?  
  
Like, Romantic love?  
  
Roses? Chocolates? Candle lit dinners? Long walks on the beach in the moonlight? Naw, Hermione just didn't feel that way when it came to the boys. Either of them.  
  
True, they were both really great guys, and they would make any girl happy. But Hermione and Harry and Ron had just gone through to much together for there ever to be anything more than that between them. They had defeated the dark lord together for Pete's sake.  
  
She sighed. The way Harry and Ron had been discussing it, it was obvious that it was all in the past tense. Ron LIKED her; he didn't necessarily like her like that now. Did he?  
  
No, of course he didn't, he was Ronald Weasley, the ministry of magic's toy boy, he could have any woman that he wanted, so why the hell would he want boring old Hermione Granger.  
  
It all meant nothing, if he flirted, it was all a joke. She knew that, and he knew that, so really, it was no big deal if Ron had had a crush on her when they were 16. It didn't matter now, because now they were friends, and nothing could come in between them.  
  
*****  
  
Damn Harry Potter  
  
Damn Harry Potter to hell and back on a Nimbus 2000  
  
How dare he just walk in and start throwing around allegations like that, how dare he do that to his best friend Ron Weasley.  
  
Because now, the aforementioned Ron Weasley couldn't sleep.  
  
He was to busy thinking about his sixth year at Hogwarts, a year which still held a special spot in his heart. The year that he wanted nothing more, then to forever be in love with Hermione Granger.  
  
It felt like so long ago now, and it was, year ago even. So many hours had passed, so many days, so many minutes, seconds. So many emotions had since passed through him. Things had changed. The warm, tingly, feelings for Hermione had once again been long buried, and that was the way that he wanted it to stay.  
  
Now that Ron looked back on it, he never really loved Hermione in the way that he thought he did in sixth year. He was so infatuated with her, with everything about her. But now that he thought about it, it wasn't love.  
  
Ron remembered he had woken up one morning Jealous, Completely and utterly jealous of Viktor Krum, Hermione boyfriend of almost two years. He remembered how his whole life had changed in just that small amount of time. He had gone from being her best friend, to wanting to be so much more than that.  
  
It is amazing how thoughts and feelings have the ability to slap you in the face, and that was exactly what had happen to Ron that morning, He woke up, brushed his teeth, and then began to shave. (He had started shaving in his fifth year; it had become a matter that if he didn't, after a few days he would have a beard rivaling Hagrid's)  
  
He almost sliced his face open when the thought just popped into his head. His whole belief system of the world was thrown askew when he realized (and started to believe) one simple sentence.  
  
It was impossible not to be one hundred percent, ass-backwards in love Hermione Granger.  
  
Harry and a few of Ron's family members (usually Ginny) had told him for years that he was in love with Hermione, that no matter what happened, he would end up with Hermione. Ron usually just laughed them off, making some comment about it being the silliest thing he had ever heard.  
  
But that morning, as he looked himself in the mirror, half of his face covered in shave cream, the other half fresh and smooth (with a few small razor nicks) that he realized that they had all been right.  
  
Ron had been in love with Hermione for about a month before he realized that he had over estimated his feelings for her.  
  
As quickly as the thought of loving Hermione had popped into his head, the thought of not loving Hermione had popped into it. He realized, while he was brushing his teeth, readying himself to go to bed, that it really wasn't what he felt for her.  
  
He did love her, but only as a best friend. He knew that was what he was supposed to work out over the month that he had spent dreaming about Hermione. That they were better off as friends.  
  
The time he spent loving her had brought new clarification to their friendship, made them stronger, made them realize that lovers come and go, but friends like what they were to each other was not worth wasting.  
  
They had gone on to have one of the strongest friendships in the history of Hogwarts. Ron, Harry and Hermione never left each others side after that. And that was the way that it stayed.  
  
They took each day as it came, and defeated the ultimate evil of the world together. Then, unfortunately, they had all began to lose touch.  
  
But that was over now; Hermione Granger, Harry Potter and Ron Weasley were beginning to become best friends again. And nothing was ever going to change that.  
  
He was not going to fall in love.  
  
Never, no matter how tempting Hermione was.  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
Sorry this was really short, I didn't quite know what to write, the next one will be longer, I promise!!!!  
  
Review!!! 


	6. Chapter 6 the interrigation of ron

This chapter is way longer.  
  
OH MY GOD, I JUST SAW HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS.  
  
That movie totally rocks. It is so cool, I so love it. Soooooo cool.  
  
Any way, enjoy this chapter.  
  
(For any one who has seen CoS, how cute does Percy look with messy bed hair.)  
  
This chapter shows my love for the characters of Percy and George!!!  
  
~*~*~**~  
  
"GOOD MORNING!!!" Ron exclaimed, jumping up and down on Hermione's bed.  
  
"What? Go away" Hermione sighed, rolling over and burying his head into the pillows. Then she sat up and looked at the digital clock on her bedside table. It was early. So early in fact that Hermione was sure if she was to open her curtains, the sun would not even be up yet.  
  
"No, Hermione, it is a beautiful day." He began.  
  
"How can it be a beautiful day, the day has not officially dawned yet" Hermione replied, pulling the blanket up over her head.  
  
She sighed. Then paused, sitting up and pulling the blanket down.  
  
"Day three, and you have already turned be into a slob" Hermione accused. Ron smiled at her.  
  
"Mission almost accomplished then. That is part of the major, grand plan." Ron told her. Hermione smiled. Collapsing back onto the bed. She needed sleep; she had only gotten to sleep, urg, two hours ago.  
  
"Well, congratulations Ronald, you made me want to stay in bed" Hermione yawned.  
  
"You have no idea how many girls say that to me." He replied, Hermione slapped him across the back of the head. He chuckled.  
  
"Is there a point to this, can I go back to sleep now?" Hermione asked. Ron smiled.  
  
"Yes, but I did wake you up for a reason" Ron told her.  
  
"Good to know that I was not deprived of sleep in vain" Hermione grinned and yawned. Ron couldn't help but laugh.  
  
"Anyway, I am heading out for my run" He began.  
  
"You go running?" Hermione smirked.  
  
"Of course I do, do you expect me to be able to maintain this damn sexy body with out putting a little bit of time and effort into it?" He asked, Standing and lifting his shirt, showing off some nicely defined abdominal muscles. Hermione couldn't help the involuntary lick of the lips that escaped her. It was a reflex action.  
  
"I saw that" Ron smiled. She blushed.  
  
"You had a point?" Hermione asked, desperately wanting to change the subject. He smiled at her discomfort.  
  
"Right, point is, we are spending time at the burrow today" Ron smiled, standing and moving quickly to leave the room.  
  
"Wait one cotton picking second! We are going to the burrow?" She asked. Ron turned back.  
  
"Yeah, you know, my old place of inhabitance, the place where my lovely parents still dwell. You are just lucky enough to have been invited to a Weasley family gathering" Ron told her.  
  
"Gathering, how many people will be at this gathering?" Hermione asked.  
  
"At least thirty" He told her. Hermione almost fell out of her bed.  
  
"At least thirty?" She asked.  
  
"Yeah, it is not that hard when all of the family gets together" Ron told her.  
  
"And why do I have the honor of spending the day with thirty of your relatives" Hermione asked.  
  
"Because I don't want to go alone." He replied honestly. "My brothers still pick on me"  
  
"Fine, I'll go" She defeated.  
  
"Hermione, dearest, you have no choice.get more sleep, you will need it"  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Hermione took a deep breath as she stood outside the burrow. It had been years since she had seen her extended family. And now she was nervous. She didn't understand why she was nervous, she had never been nervous around the Weasley's before.  
  
She wanted to see them again. It had been to long. She wanted to spend a day, catching up on the Weasley stories and finding out about their lives. She remembered the long hot summers that she had spent here with Ginny, Harry and the Weasley boys. She remembered that feeling of safety that the three teenagers could not feel anywhere else. No matter what threat was plaguing them, no matter what Voldemort was going to do, they knew no one could harm them in their own little world of the burrow. They felt invincible.  
  
It was amazing how much Hermione had not thought about her own life over the last couple of days. As she spent time getting to know those around her again, she realized that her life didn't need as much attention as she had been giving it.  
  
"Hermione" The call came from the front door of the burrow. Hermione looked up into the eyes of Ginny as she practically flew down the walkway and into her arms. Hermione caught the giggling girl in her arms and pulled her in for a tight hug.  
  
"Oh, Ginny, I missed you" Hermione mumbled into the red head hair. Hermione had to admit that standing there, holding her childhood friend in her arms, she started to feel even guiltier for not keeping in contact.  
  
"I missed you to Hermione, we should have made the time to talk to each other a lot more than we have" Ginny told her. Hermione nodded. "Come into the house, Mum will be so excited to see you again"  
  
Hermione allowed herself to be dragged into the house behind the bubbly Ginny. They stood in the doorway of the kitchen, and Hermione watched Molly move quickly around the room, collecting things that she needed. Molly turned, and her eye caught Hermione's.  
  
"Hermione, Dear" She smiled. Hermione couldn't help but grin, falling into the arms of the woman that for so many years had been like a second mother to her. The comfort that she always felt in Molly Weasley's arms was so unexplainable.  
  
"Hello Molly" She smiled, kissing Molly on the cheek. She was shocked to see that there were tears in Molly Weasley's eyes when she pulled away.  
  
"It is so glad to have you back in our house Hermione, it has been far too long." She told her. Hermione smiled.  
  
"I know, it has been far too long, I am sorry" Hermione replied. Molly made a tutting noise.  
  
"Don't apologize child, it is not your fault that you are to busy to even eat right." Molly began.  
  
"And who told you that Molly?" Hermione asked.  
  
"Oh, Don't worry Hermione, Ron told us that you have been making yourself sick from all of the work that you have been doing, it is not a good thing to be skipping meals and losing sleep like that dear." Molly told her. Hermione just turned to Ron, who was slowly inching out of the kitchen.  
  
"You told your mother that I can't look after myself?" She asked, Ron laughed nervously.  
  
"Oh wait, is that dad calling me in the yard?" Ron asked as he turned and bolted from the room. Hermione smiled at Molly.  
  
"Excuse me while I draw and quarter him" Hermione replied, turning and running from the kitchen out into the back yard. As she ran, she could hear Molly laughing.  
  
She bolted out into the back yard after Ron, and she couldn't help but remember how many times she had chased him around this yard. Even as she ran, her memories showed her mental images of a some what better time in her life. Chasing the boys and just sitting in the yard, talking.  
  
"Hermione!!!" This time, her name was called by several people. She stopped and was only just able to brace herself before she was tackled to the ground by Fred, George, Bill and Charlie.  
  
"Good to see you to boys" She laughed as they all lay tangled on the grass. Ron walked up to them laughing.  
  
"You should know not the mess with a Weasley on the Weasley's turf" Ron told her, she smiled and grabbed his foot, pulling him to the ground with her brothers. They all sit around, laughing.  
  
"So, how is every one?" She asked as she moved Fred's foot, that was pinning her to the ground.  
  
"Decent" Fred replied. Hermione smiled and hugged the twins.  
  
In their older age, Fred and George Weasley had mutually decided to change their looks so they could be told apart. Fred kept his hair the way that it had always been, down and sort of in his eyes, where as George had spiked his hair, making him look much younger then he was.  
  
The boys had followed through with their plans for a joke shop. And now, Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes had seven locations, making it the best joke shop in the wizarding world.  
  
Two years after Hogwarts, Fred had gotten married, and now, as far as Hermione knew, he and his wife, Angelina, had two children. George, however, was still living the life of a bachelor.  
  
"Yeah, you know, no point complaining about life, mum is the only one who listens" George told her.  
  
"That is not true, I listen, I just don't care" Bill told his brother. Hermione chuckled.  
  
"Bill, Charlie, how are you too, I haven't seen you and ages" She smiled. The other two boys just smiled at her and started talking at the same time.  
  
Last Hermione had heard, both men were married. Charlie was a liaison officer for the care of magical creatures department of the ministry, of course specializing in dragons. He had married a few years later and had beautiful identical twin boys (red heads and troublemakers, taking after their uncles Fred and George.) Bill had also married, and he already had three children. He was now the chairman of the board of directors of the Gringotts bank in Diagon Alley.  
  
"Whoa, Whoa, Whoa, Guys, I will talk to you lot individually later, I don't think I have the time to hear the life stories now." Hermione smiled at them. She finally finished pushing the boys off of her, and then pushed herself up off of the ground. George helped her up, and then gave her a proper hug.  
  
"Hermione, we missed you, you didn't write, you didn't call" He fake sobbed into her shoulder. Hermione laughed and slapped his arm before pulling away from the boys and moving over to the tables that were set up in one corner of the garden.  
  
"They couldn't even let you in the door with out jumping on you" Percy smiled, shaking his head. Hermione smiled and hugged him.  
  
Percy was now a teacher at Hogwarts. He was teaching Defense against the Dark arts, and had been the only teacher in a long time to stay more than one year. He had taught Hermione, Harry and Ron in their seventh year. Ron had hated that, having to call his older brother Professor Weasley (Malfoy had had a lot of fun laughing at that). Hermione had had the honor of Teaching with Percy before she had been invited to be the minister of education.  
  
Percy had given up his obsession with being promoted at the ministry, realizing that spending to much time behind a desk was not going to really help any one, especially not himself. He just wished that Hermione would be able to see that soon.  
  
"How have you been Percy?" She asked, taking a seat beside him. Percy smiled.  
  
"Tired. I had no idea that having children was such a hard thing" He replied. Hermione smiled, she had heard through the work grapevine that Percy's wife Penelope had just given birth to triplets, so she could sympathize with his sleepless nights.  
  
"What are you complaining about Percival Weasley, you were not the one who had to give birth to them, and I am the one who has to get up at two in the morning to feed them" Penelope laughed, moving out of the house, carrying two beautiful babies in her arms, she was followed closely by Ginny, who was carrying the third.  
  
Hermione smiled at the new generation of Weasleys that were scattered around the yard. Percy had three (Jay, Aaron and Christopher) Fred had two children (Danielle and Jessica), Charlie had twins (Sean and David) and Bill Already had three (Dominic, Andrea and Harvey). All of them with red hair. Hermione couldn't help but wonder how many of them would be at Hogwarts at the same time.  
  
Hermione loved little kids, and it wasn't until she was holding Percy's son in her arms that she realized she wanted to be a mother one day. She wanted to be the one carrying around a beautiful little child, complaining about sleep deprivation in a joking way to any person who would listen. She wanted a little Girl that she could treat like a princess. She wanted a little boy who she could bring up to be a perfect gentleman.  
  
Hermione sighed. It wouldn't be happening for her for a very long time. Her life was just too hectic for her to be thinking about children at the moment.  
  
Hermione had been thinking so much about children, that she had not heard Ginny talking to her.  
  
"What, sorry Gin" She asked, Ginny laughed.  
  
"I just said that you look really natural with a baby in your arms, you should have kids." Ginny told her. Hermione smiled at her best friend.  
  
"Not for a while Gin"  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
He was watching her from across the yard as she sat with his nephew in her arms. Hermione was holding Christopher, Ginny was holding Aaron, and Penelope was holding Jay. But Ron only had eyes for one of them.  
  
He had never realized how genuine Hermione looked when she was just relaxing. Not that she was not genuine when she was busy and working. But now she was a different type of genuine.  
  
She sat on the back porch of the Burrow, nursing the small baby delicately in her arms. She looked so real, so comfortable, so.appealing.  
  
What the Hell?  
  
Ron took the time to curse Harry Potter yet again. Now he was having crazy thoughts about Hermione. Any other day he would have just looked over at Hermione and thought 'Well, Hermione looks really natural with a baby' in stead of looking across at her and thinking 'It would be so cool if that was our child'  
  
But he didn't even like her. Not in that way anyway. This was all Harry's fault.  
  
He had put the stupid little idea into his head and now he couldn't think of anything else. The idea was burying its way into his brain, making him think of some of the craziest stuff in the world was now coming into his head.  
  
Ron was a dreamer. Not many people knew that, but he was a hopeless romantic, a optimistic dreamer, the glass was always half full, as opposed to half empty. Ever since his days at Hogwarts, he had dreamed of one day settling down and having a family, not for a little while yet, but he wanted the picture perfect life that he thought his brothers had.  
  
He had made a plan, always working around the element of which girl he would end up with. But just now, in his minds eye, his whole life remapped itself.  
  
All of a sudden he saw himself with Hermione, and Hermione having his children. Himself waking up next to Hermione in the future. Hermione telling him that she would always love him. Hermione taking her vows for him at a wedding.  
  
But he didn't love her like that, Dangnab it!!!!!!  
  
"So, Ron, what is the deal with you and Hermione? Are you dating or what?" Fred asked from one side of him. Ron just sighed.  
  
"Naw, I am just helping her relax" Ron replied, his gaze still locked with Hermione, who was not kissing the cheek of the baby she held in her arms. Ron had a few intense feelings of jealousy.  
  
"That sounds kind of suss, how exactly are you helping her *Relax*" Charlie asked. Ron shot his brother an evil glare.  
  
"Don't make it sound like that, you make it sound sick" Ron told them "She is just staying with me for a month, taking a break from work"  
  
"Ok Ron, we will lat it drop" Bill smiled, clapping his brothers on the shoulder, pulling them away from Ron. Ron let out a relieved sigh.  
  
"So you and Hermione are not dating?" Arthur Weasley asked. Ron smiled.  
  
"No dad, We are not" Ron replied. Arthur nodded.  
  
"When are you going to settle down Ron?" Arthur asked. Ron looked at him, confused.  
  
"What are you talking about?" He asked. Arthur sat down next to him on a tree stub.  
  
"When are you going to find a girl, a stable girl, some one to look after you" Arthur asked. Ron could not believe what his father was saying. He was 22 years old, he was to young to settle down.  
  
"Why dad?"  
  
"I know that you have a lot of 'fun' Ron, a different girl every night and so on. But I think that it is time that you started to settle down a bit. Find a respectable girl who can put up with you and keep her in your arms for longer than a night" Arthur told him.  
  
"What do you mean by that dad? Are you saying that you think I am a Slut?" He asked. Arthur sighed.  
  
"No, Ron, it is not like that, it is just, you have a reputation as a bit of a ladies man. your mother and I just want to see you settled." Arthur replied.  
  
"I am settled, I am as settled as I could be at my age, I am still young. Why are you one my back about this dad? I am 22" Ron replied, standing.  
  
"I am sorry Ron, I am sorry you are right." Arthur said, trying to calm his son, who was obviously mad.or hurt.  
  
"Just cos all of the others were all married by my age you think that I am going to conform to the pattern they set?" Ron asked. Arthur nodded. It was true. All of the others had married before their 21st birthday. George was the only one who was not even on the road to marriage. Ginny was seriously dating some one, but no one had ever met this guy before.  
  
"Ron, I am sorry" Arthur replied. Ron nodded, but turned and walked away. He got half way across the yard before he was stopped again.  
  
"Ron!"  
  
"Yeah?" He snapped, turning to George, who was jogging to catch up with him.  
  
"Sorry man, I just wanted to ask you about Hermione" He told him. Ron rolled his eyes.  
  
"No she is not my girlfriend, we are not sleeping together either, I have no intention of being with her, being in a relationship with her, or being anything more than a friend to her. No, Hermione and I are not going to be settling down and having kids any time soon, and no, I am not going to settle down with any one yet. Is that what you wanted to know?" Ron asked.  
  
"Well, no, but that information was useful. No feelings for Hermione then?" He asked.  
  
"None like that" Ron replied.  
  
"Cool, then you wont mind if I ask her out on a date" George smiled, slapping his brother on the arm, and then running off across the yard, to where Hermione sat with a gathering of all of the kids.  
  
Ron just stood, with his mouth hanging open.  
  
~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Review now, thank you 


	7. Chapter 7

Hello all, This is a new chapter. I hope that you enjoy it.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
"Bugger, I really liked this shirt to!" Hermione mumbled to herself as she wet the tea towel and rubbed it against the baby vomit that now stained her front. The shirt was well and truly ruined, which was a shame, because it was a really nice shirt.  
  
"That is a nice color on you" the voice startled Hermione. She turned to see George leaning against the door frame of the kitchen. Hermione laughed.  
  
"What, the color of the shirt or the color of the vomit?" She joked, George smiled.  
  
"Both, it brings out the color in your eyes" He smiled.  
  
"Thanks, I guess" Hermione replied, still rubbing the stain.  
  
"Here, let me help you with that" He told her, moving further into the kitchen and taking the towel from her hands, dipping it into the soapy water and then carefully rubbing at the stain.  
  
"Maybe I should just ask Ginny for a shirt to wear" Hermione sighed. George smiled at her.  
  
"But this is a really nice shirt, it looks good on you" George complimented. Hermione couldn't help the light blush that spread across her cheeks.  
  
"Thank you George"  
  
"But I think you would look good in any thing Hermione. I am amazed at how grown up you are" George told her.  
  
"Well, people do tend to grow up" Hermione told him.  
  
"Not us Weasleys" He smiled. Hermione had to silently agree. All of the Weasley men were trapped in some sort of juvenile time warp. A Peter Pan syndrome that made them never want to grow up.  
  
"True" She grinned. George dipped the towel in the water again.  
  
"I think it is great what you are doing with this whole relaxing thing. From what I remember of you at school, you worked yourself way to hard" George told her.  
  
"I never thought that I did" She replied.  
  
"Did I ever tell you how much I admired you at school?" George asked. Hermione looked at him, confused.  
  
"No?"  
  
"Well, I did, I admired you, a lot actually. I admired how you could work for hours on end, just working non-stop, even if it was the most beautiful day of the year outside. I admired that you could always jump forward with an answer that no one else could possibly know, I admired how you could keep others in line and motivated, and I totally admired how you always seemed to know the right thing to say at the right time. Plus, being able to leave Ron completely and utterly dumbfounded, That is a gift" George replied sincerely. Hermione could feel her cheeks heating up.  
  
"I admired you to. You always seemed so relaxed and so happy. I mean, I was happy with the way I was living, but I would have loved to have had the freedom that you and Fred seemed to have. You always seemed to know exactly what you wanted, and you got it. I admit I was jealous" Hermione told him.  
  
"You were jealous of me? Wow, I did not expect you to say that" He smiled.  
  
"Well, I just did say it, didn't I?" Hermione replied. George chuckled.  
  
"You, my dear, are one in a million. No, you are one in ten million" George told her. Hermione laughed.  
  
"Well, that is really sweet of you to say"  
  
"Hermione, would you like to go out to dinner with me tomorrow night?" George asked. Hermione pulled away from him slightly.  
  
George had just asked her out on a date. It had been a long time since any man had asked her out on a date. She didn't quite know what to say. Could she really date Ron's brother? What would Ron do? What would Ron say?  
  
Wait. Why should Ron care? Why did Hermione care if Ron cared? Ron was not her boyfriend, he was not her father, he was not even her keeper, he was just a friend. Just a friend. Nothing more nothing less. What would Ron do? Forbid her not to go on a date with George.  
  
Besides, Ron wanted her to relax, and this would help her to relax. To go out to dinner with a friend. There didn't have to be anything sexual about going out with George if she didn't want it (she wasn't sure if she did want anything like that with George or not)  
  
"Yeah, ok, sure, I would love to"  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
"I cant believe you actually said yes to going out with my brother" Ron sighed, for the hundredth time as he stood in Hermione's doorway watching her scurry around the room, preparing for her date.  
  
"Are you jealous?" Hermione asked as she pulled on her other sandal.  
  
"No, I am not jealous" He said, not to convincingly. Hermione caught his tone, but decided not to mention it.  
  
"Ron, it is just dinner with George" She replied.  
  
"I know, I know" He sighed.  
  
He was having strange feelings about the whole thing. He didn't want Hermione to go, because he didn't want her to date George. Ron didn't want Hermione for himself. He just didn't want anyone else to have her, especially not a member of his own family.  
  
He didn't love her like that. It had become his new mantra. No matter what happened, he would repeat that to himself. And now, as he watched her prepare to go out to dinner with his older brother, he was repeating it to himself more.  
  
It had been a long time since Ron had seen Hermione dressed up. Not that she was overly dressed up now. But she was elegantly casual. Ron couldn't stop himself from thinking just how beautiful she looked.  
  
Suddenly, there was a knock at the door.  
  
"That will be George; can you go and get that for me please?" Hermione asked. He sighed, and then moved down the stairs to the front door, which he opened and let his brother in.  
  
"Is my date ready yet?' George smiled. Ron had never before wanted to seriously hit one of his brothers, but at that moment, he wanted to slap that smile off of George's face. The smile seemed so insincere, so unsettling, unnerving.  
  
Ron had an urge to jump into the 'If you hurt her I will no longer have a brother named George' speech, but was interrupted when he realized that George wouldn't even hear a word that he would have said.  
  
Hermione was slowly making her way down the stairs. Her entrance was strange, almost like the slow motion movie enterences in muggle movie. Both Weasley men stood at the door, waiting for her, their jaws almost hitting the floor.  
  
She looked absolutely gorgeous. Her soft brown hair was down, framing her face. Her sweater clung to her body, showing her curves, and her skirt stopped just above her knee, showing off a large amount of her legs.  
  
"Wow" Ron whispered. Of course he had seen her upstairs when she was still getting ready, but now, it was so different, it was so much like Ron was seeing her for the first time. His breath caught in his throat and his palms were getting sweaty.  
  
It was at that moment, that Ron realized, no matter how much he tried to deny it, no matter how much her told himself that it wasn't so, there was something going on between him and Hermione.  
  
She looked wonderful, and he had to fight the temptation of begging her not to go out with George, he had to fight the temptation of telling his brother to leave, and then locking Hermione in the house so she wouldn't be able to leave him tonight.  
  
Did Ron now love Hermione?  
  
No  
  
Yes  
  
Oh, who knows anything anymore?  
  
Ron didn't understand what was going on, but he knew that he did not want Hermione dating his brother. He knew that it would just be way too much for him to deal with if they actually hit it off. He just knew it would be way to confusing.  
  
He took a deep breath and stopped himself from staring. Ron knew he should say something, compliment her, tell her that she looks nice or something, anything, But he didn't know what to say. He couldn't find the word to express what he was thinking. He couldn't express it because he didn't even know.  
  
How can you possibly explain your thoughts to some one else if you didn't even understand what was going on in your own head?  
  
"Hermione, you look great" George told her. She blushed slightly.  
  
"Thank you" She smiled.  
  
"Are you ready to go?" He asked. Hermione nodded and then smiled at Ron.  
  
"Don't wait up" Hermione laughed, and then left with George.  
  
He tried in vain to smile at Hermione's little joke, but he could not find the strength to laugh. He could not find the strength to really do anything.  
  
He was jealous of his brother. He was jealous of George because he had Hermione. He was taking her out to dinner. On a date.  
  
Ron took a deep breath, steadying himself.  
  
What the hell was going on in his head?  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Hermione sat and ate her dinner, hearing little stories about Fred and George's joke shop. She would smile and laugh when appropriate, but truthfully, she was not having a good time.  
  
She didn't understand why she was not having fun. George was a funny, charming, intelligent, sensitive, good looking guy who was always making sure that she was having a great time. But the truth of the matter was that she just wasn't having fun.  
  
Maybe it was because it had been years since her last date, maybe it was because she was more worried about not making a fool of herself, or maybe it was because of Ron.  
  
Hermione almost slapped herself when her subconscious threw her that curve ball. She was not enjoying herself because of Ron.  
  
But what did that mean? Was it guilt because she had left Ron all alone at home? Was it because she had heard slight jealously in his voice when she accused him of it earlier? Ron had seemed a little strange just before they had left, was it because of that?  
  
It all was because of Ron. She was not enjoying her dinner, all because of Ron.  
  
Damn Ron. Hermione wanted desperately to enjoy tonight, her first date in a long time. She wanted to talk to some one, have an intellectual conversation, talk about anything that came to mind. She wanted the innocent flirting that a first date could bring. She wanted the simple gestures of kindness that a man shows a woman. She wanted the atmosphere of a date, and most of all, she wanted the anticipation of a kiss at the end of the night.  
  
But Ron had ruined it all for her, weather he knew that or not. He was making her feel on edge, making her concentrate on other things other than the conversation that George was providing, She was so one edge that she had not picked up on any simple little flirty gestures. The atmosphere seemed to be lacking and Hermione held no anticipation for the end of the night kiss.  
  
All because of Ron.  
  
Then, the truth of the matter hit her.  
  
She was on a date with the wrong Weasley.  
  
George was a great guy, but really, Hermione didn't want to be there with him. She wanted to be there with some one else. She wanted to be there with Ron.  
  
She knew that she would appreciate and take part in conversation with him if he was there, she would accept Ron's flirty advances, and even flirt back, and she would be nervously anticipating the end of the night, when even for a spilt second, her lips would be pressed against his.  
  
Hermione didn't understand why she was having these feelings for Ron, but all she knew was that they were there. It wasn't fair on George. She shouldn't be thinking about his brother when she was on a date with him.  
  
"Hermione? Are you OK?" He asked. Hermione was pulled out of her thoughts by his voice.  
  
"Yeah, I am fine"  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
"I had a really great time tonight Hermione" George smiled as they stood outside of Ron's front door. Hermione smiled.  
  
"I had a great time to, It was really great catching up with you" She replied. George nodded, and then pressed his lips to her forehead.  
  
"Do yourself a favor Hermione, tell Ron how you feel about him" he told her. Hermione pulled back and looked at him.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Hermione, it is so damn obvious that you are in love with my brother" George told her. Hermione just shook her head at him.  
  
"No, I don't love him" She replied "Not like that"  
  
"There is no point denying it. Hermione, I know you spent all night thinking about Ickle Ronniekins" George replied.  
  
"I didn't"  
  
"You did"  
  
"I didn't"  
  
"Hermione?" He questioned, she sighed.  
  
"I am sorry George; I didn't mean to ruin the night." She muttered. George smiled.  
  
"You didn't ruin anything" George replied. Hermione nodded. "But you should tell him"  
  
"Tell him what? Because I am not even sure how I feel about him" Hermione replied.  
  
"Maybe you should just tell him of your feelings. Tell him you are confused and that you don't know how to deal with what you are feeling for him. He may understand that" George told her. She nodded, and then hugged him.  
  
"Thank you, you are a great friend" Hermione whispered, and then opened the door. Entering, she turned and watched as George left.  
  
Hermione turned around again, and jumped when she saw some one on the stairs.  
  
"You waited up for me!" She exclaimed at Ron. She couldn't believe it. That made her so damn angry at him. How dare he think that he had the right to do that to her. Who did he think he was, his father didn't even do that any more?  
  
"So what if I did.I am just making sure you are ok" He told her. It was a pretty lame excuse, and Ron would be the first to admit that, but he really didn't know what else to say.  
  
"Making sure that I am ok. I was with your brother, why would I not be ok?" She asked. She was so angry at him. While standing on the door step she had had every intention of doing what George had suggested, of coming inside and telling Ron how she really felt. But now he didn't deserve to know her feelings, he didn't deserve to know what she was thinking, what she was feeling. He didn't deserve her.  
  
"Because George is not right for you" he replied.  
  
"Then what is right for me? Huh?" She exclaimed.  
  
"I don't know, but not him" Ron replied.  
  
"What, so I don't deserve a nice guy. I don't deserve a sweet guy who respects me and treats me like a desirable woman" Hermione asked.  
  
"A desirable woman, he sad that you were desirable?" he asked, amazed. He hadn't expected George to actually like Hermione. He just thought the George was asking her out to because she was just a pretty face. He knew his brother pretty well, and for him to refer to a girl as desirable, usually meant that he was at least a little bit genuinely interested. He was amazed at his brother, not at the concept of Hermione being desirable, because Ron agreed, she was a desirable woman.  
  
"Don't sound so shocked Ron, Just because you think I am not desirable, doesn't mean that everyone has your taste in women." She told him, pushing past him to move up the stairs to her bedroom.  
  
"Hermione, that is not what I meant" He replied, following her up the stairs.  
  
"Then what do you mean then?" she asked as they reached the top of the stairs.  
  
"I mean that, umm, I don't know what I meant" he replied.  
  
"That makes me feel so much better" Hermione exclaimed, turning on her heel and entering her bedroom. She closed the door and sighed.  
  
Taking a deep breath she tried to subside her anger, but she knew that it was easier said than done. She opened the door, and moved back out into the hall.  
  
"You know what Weasley, you have no right to pass judgment on me like that. You can't even let me go out on a date with out you treating me like a little girl. You just need to grow up, stop being a jealous prat and get over it" Hermione told him. Ron just smiled at her and opened his own bedroom door.  
  
"Fine, I am over it.and while I am at it, I am over you" He told her before he could think about what he was saying. He slammed his door, leaving Hermione in the hall.  
  
"What do you mean you are over me?" She yelled, but he didn't reply. "Fine, be a childish, juvenile little git, I am over you to"  
  
Hermione slammed her bedroom door closed just as Ron's opened.  
  
"What do you mean you are over me?" he yelled.  
  
"I thought you said you were over it all" She called. Ron just growled.  
  
"Fine" He yelled and slammed his door.  
  
"Fine" She yelled back.  
  
"Be that way then" He yelled.  
  
"I will." She replied.  
  
Less than a minute later, both bedroom doors opened. They looked at each other for a few minutes.  
  
Then they fell into each others arms. Holding each other lovingly.  
  
A few seconds later, they kissed.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
CAN YOU NOW DO ME A FAVOR AND REVIEW. THAT WOULD BE REALLY AWSOME.  
  
Oh yeah and while I am at it hello Lexi Fett. (that is if you ever find this fic and read this chapter. I better get a long review from you, because remember, I know where you live!!!) 


	8. Chapter 8

Hey all, I just saw Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets for the second time in three days. I still love that movie.  
  
And there is a bit in this chapter for one of my reviewers. She said make them choke on a peanut, but no, I like the idea of spitting peanuts.  
  
Oh yeah, and I know that in the end of the last chapter you they were kissing and the beginning of this chapter they wake up in the same bed after sleeping together. I beg of you to use your imagination. How they got from Kissing to waking up is completely up to you.  
  
~*~*~*~*  
  
The pre-dawn misty light came through the window, rousing Hermione from her comfortable sleep. She sighed and smiled, yawning and preparing to go back to sleep.  
  
She settled back into the covers and rolled over. Hermione suddenly sat up.  
  
Why was there some one in her bed? Was she even in her own bed? What the hell is going on?  
  
Sitting up carefully, as not to wake the person who was sharing the bed, she looked around the room. Ron's room, and the body beside her in the bed was also Ron's.  
  
Ron's body, that seemed to be very much devoid of clothing. She looked down at herself as well, and just as she had feared, she was naked to.  
  
The events of the night before came rushing back to her at full force. Hermione had gone on her date with George, who had talked her into telling Ron her feelings. Then she had come home, had a fight with Ron, and then they had kissed (and obviously, they had done a little bit more that kissing)  
  
Ripping the cover off of the bed and wrapping it around her bare body, she stood and collected her clothing from the floor.  
  
What had they done? What had she done? Like their relationship wasn't confusing enough as it was, now they had to add yet another complication to the mix.  
  
What was their friendship going to be like now? Could they just ignore the fact that they had just made what could be a major mistake, and then just go back to being friends? She didn't think so.  
  
This changed everything. They could never just be friends now, no matter how much she wished that she could.  
  
Hermione wished that she knew the answers to all of the questions that were buzzing around her mind. She wished she knew what was going on with her and Ron, and what was going to happen with them.  
  
She wished for a lot of things. Part of her wished that she had never agreed to move in with Ron, because all she had succeeded to do was confuse her monumentally. She wished that she had just stayed at work, minding her own business. She wished that she had not come home last night, she wished that she had of been so smart as to realize that this was going to happen.  
  
But also, part of her was glad that it had happened. Maybe from here she and Ron could have the grounds to start a relationship, a proper relationship.  
  
"Wait, Hold on a minute Granger" She mumbled to herself as she stood at the bedside and watched Ron sleep. "You don't even know if he even likes you"  
  
Ron had a reputation. It was common knowledge that he always had a different girl on his arm. He was probably used to waking up like this.  
  
But Hermione wasn't used to this, she wasn't the type of person who would have one night stands, especially with people that she did have feelings for.  
  
Hermione took a deep breath and tried to stop the tears from running down her cheeks. Why was life so confusing?  
  
Quickly, Hermione dressed, and left the house.  
  
She didn't know where she was going, she had no idea. All she knew was that she could not stay in the same house with Ron.  
  
She was going to be wimp, and she was not going to be there when Ron woke up. She didn't want to be there for the awkwardness of any morning after conversations. Hermione didn't want to have to be there and hear Ron talk about how it was fun but it would never happen again.  
  
Hermione didn't want to have to face her feelings for Ron. She knew that if some one was to ask her if she was in love with Ron, she would have no choice but to answer truthfully.  
  
But what was the truth? Just because she had had some feelings for him, and just because she had slept with him, it didn't mean that she was in love with him.  
  
That was what scared her, she had never been with some one intimately with out loving them first. Sure, she loved Ron as a best friend, but that was not enough love for her to feel better about her actions. It was not enough to make her feel any less unsettled.  
  
Her mind was about to explode due to all of the thoughts that were buzzing. She needed to get her emotions out of her head, she needed to talk to some one. Some one who would understand what she was feeling, some one who would be a sympathetic ear to her, and maybe even give some advice.  
  
It was time to visit Ginny.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Hermione stood in the hallway outside of Ginny's apartment door. She knocked again and waited for her to answer.  
  
"Hold on a minute" came the call from inside and then there was a mad scurrying inside the apartment. Hermione tried to listen, wondering if everything was ok.  
  
The door opened half way, and Ginny stuck her head out.  
  
"Hermione!" She exclaimed, and then opened the door fully and hugged her. Ginny was wrapped tightly in a bed sheet.  
  
"Umm, Gin, did I come at a bad time?" Hermione asked. Ginny pulled back and blushed slightly.  
  
"Yeah, a little, my boyfriend is here. But come in anyway, he can wait, it looks like you need to talk." Ginny smiled, taking Hermione's arm and pulling her into the apartment.  
  
Ginny's apartment was decorated nicely, which was surprise when it was compared to the atrocious room that she had decorated at Ron's place. Hermione took a quick look around the living room while Ginny really quickly kicked a few items of clothing under the couch.  
  
"Do you want something to drink? Coffee? Tea? I think that there are even a few bottles of Butterbeer in the fridge" Ginny offered as she entered the kitchen, Hermione followed.  
  
"Coffee, and make it strong" She told Ginny. Ginny smiled and started making the coffee. "Take a seat. Sorry the place is such a mess, I have been way to busy to clean the up"  
  
"Don't worry about that Gin, I don't care, I mean, I used to mess now, I have been living with your brother for a week" Hermione said, but her tone was odd. Ginny looked at her, concerned.  
  
"Are you ok Hermione?" She asked. Hermione shook her head. "Wanna tell me about it?"  
  
Hermione was just about to start talking when some one entered the kitchen. Hermione smiled at Ginny. So this was the secret boyfriend.  
  
He was tall, maybe a little bit taller than Ginny, not as tall as Ron though (Hermione cursed herself for comparing this bloke to Ron) He had a lean frame, but strong arms and a defined chest. Hermione took the time to take in the guy, who was only dressed in a pair of boxer shorts.  
  
Hermione had to admit that Ginny had done well for herself, this guy was a hottie, everything about his was very sexy, everything down to his messy, white-blonde bed hair.  
  
White-blonde?  
  
"Malfoy!" Hermione exclaimed, standing from her seat.  
  
"Granger" He replied.  
  
Ginny stood, her back against the counter. Her arms were crossed against her chest and she seemed to be holding her breath. She wanted Hermione, one of her best friends, to get along with Draco. She didn't want them to start fighting, not now.  
  
Hermione was so surprised that she didn't know what to say. She stood, and took in the man that was standing across from her. Draco Malfoy. One of her mortal enemies at school. What was she suppose to say, what was she suppose to do. Taking a deep breath, she turned to Ginny.  
  
"Well, I guess now I know why you haven't told your family about your boyfriend" Hermione joked. Ginny smiled and launched herself across the kitchen at her best friend. She was so happy that Hermione didn't care. Hermione was the sister that Ginny had never had, and her opinion meant a lot to her.  
  
"Yeah, well, wouldn't want to risk it with her brothers and all" Draco smiled, and then took a seat at the end of the table. "How have you been Granger?"  
  
"I've been better" Hermione admitted and then sat again. Ginny put the pot of Coffee on the table and then poured one for Hermione. She smiled at her, and then Ginny sat to.  
  
Hermione had to admit it was kind of weird, trying to hold a conversation with a half naked Malfoy at one end of the table, and a half naked Ginny at the other. But it was their house, and they could do what they wanted.  
  
They spoke about the weather, they spoke about Ginny's and Draco's jobs, but they danced around the real subject that Hermione was there. Ron.  
  
Ginny could sense that something had happened between Hermione and Ron, and she knew that was why Hermione was there. But she was going to wait for Hermione to say something.  
  
At some point during the conversation, Draco had gotten up, and was rummaging through the cupboards, looking for something to eat. He was making a lot of noise, muttering to himself and moving tins and bags. After an exclamation of happiness and a little happy dance, he finally returned to the table. The girls were laughing. Draco looked at them.  
  
"What?" He asked.  
  
"I do not think I have ever seen you do a happy dance" Hermione told him. He smiled and opened the bag that he had found.  
  
"Peanut" He offered to the girls, but they both declined.  
  
"I am amazed at how much you have changed" Hermione told him. He smiled.  
  
"I know, I am full of surprises." Draco said through a mouth full of peanuts. Ginny laughed.  
  
"He still surprises me, every day" Ginny told her and then leaned across the table to kiss him. Hermione had to admit that that was really sweet. She was jealous, why couldn't she have that with Ron.  
  
Wait. What? Oh Whatever. She loved him, she knew she did, there was no point denying it anymore.  
  
"So." Ginny began, but Hermione cut her off.  
  
"I slept with Ron" She blurted.  
  
A shower of little bits of peanut rained down around the girls. Hermione looked at Draco, who smiled apologetically and wiped his mouth.  
  
"I am sorry, but did you just say that you slept with a Weasley?" Draco asked. Ginny glared at him evilly.  
  
"As opposed to what you do? I suggest that you choose your words carefully now, or you wont be sleeping with a Weasley in a long time" Ginny replied, and then reached across the table to hold Hermione's hand.  
  
"Sorry" he mumbled.  
  
"What happened Hermione?" Ginny asked. Hermione took a deep breath and told them the whole story.  
  
"I don't see what the problem is" Draco said when Hermione had finished talking. Both Ginny and Hermione turned to him.  
  
"What?"  
  
"I said I don't know what the problem is. You are ass backwards in love with Ron, and in one way or another, you told him that much last night. It is all out in the open now" Draco told her.  
  
"No, it is not as easy as that sweetie" Ginny said to him, he sighed.  
  
"And why isn't it that easy?" He asked. "I will tell you what, it is not that easy because you women don't let it be that damn easy"  
  
"Ok, Explain" Ginny told him. Draco stood and began pacing the length of the kitchen.  
  
"You like Ron, and from what you have told us of Ron's behavior lately, he likes you to. But you couldn't just come right out and say 'Ron I like you' no you had to say, 'oh gee, Ron's older brother is good looking, I think I am going to date him'" Draco replied.  
  
"I didn't say that about George" She protested. Draco held up his hand and continued his little speech.  
  
"So you go out with George and then you realized that all you really wanted was Ron. But you could have had Ron from the beginning you silly little bint. So you act all crazy when he stays up to see you, showing that he really does care. Poor Guy, seems that he just can't win. Now, according to you, you have kissed and made up, well, done way more than that, but anyway, now you are stressing because you woke up and you couldn't deal with the fact that what you have felt all along is now reality. A huge, hairy, scary, kick you in the ass reality" He ranted. "If there is something any more easy to work out than that, then I would like to hear about it"  
  
"You recon that that is easy?" Hermione asked. Draco sighed.  
  
"Of course it is"  
  
"Then how do I resolve this problem?" Hermione asked, she wanted to hear the answer, she wanted to see how Draco would simplify her life in order to make a point, just the way that he used to in the old days. Hermione was expecting a snappy comment, or some cutting insult, but instead Draco just smiled.  
  
"Three little words" Draco told her. Hermione looked at him, confused.  
  
"What words?" She asked. Draco let out a frustrated sigh. This just made Hermione want to hear his answer so much more.  
  
"I love you"  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Ron stretched and rolled over, with every intention of grabbing onto Hermione and pulling her into his arms. He had plans to burry his head into the crook of her neck and roll up like a cat. He had set it out to be lazy with her all day. To keep her in bed and to do absolutely nothing.  
  
He groped around the empty bed, and then opened his eyes to the burning sunlight. He was surprised to see that the bed and the bedroom was empty.  
  
He sat up and looked around. The room was empty, devoid of any human life other than his own. Wrapping one of the bed sheets around his waist he stood and moved out into the hall.  
  
He checked the bathroom, her bedroom, the kitchen and the living room. All empty. She was no where, she had gone. And she had left no note.  
  
Ron tried to rationalize his thoughts, saying that she had just gone to the store to get something to eat (the house was empty, he had been meaning to go shopping, he had just kept forgetting). So with out another thought, Ron went upstairs and had a shower.  
  
When he came back downstairs, Hermione was still not back. That was when he began to worry. A girl had never walked out on him like this before, he had always been the one to leave first. It felt odd, that for the first time he actually felt something for the girl that he had slept with, and she had not been there in the morning.  
  
Maybe he deserved this. Maybe he deserved the time he was spending by himself, stressing. Maybe he deserved this because of all of the girls that he had done this to over the years. Maybe he was getting a taste of his own medicine.  
  
He wished he knew where Hermione was. It would be nice just to know where she was, and if she was ever coming back.  
  
He wanted her to come back so that he could tell her how he was feeling about her. So he could tell her how much he cared, how much he wanted her, how sorry he was for everything he had said the night before.  
  
He wanted her to know that the night before was not just a one night stand. He wanted her to know that it was something that meant a lot to her. She deserved to know that he loved her.  
  
Did he love her?  
  
Hell yes  
  
He wanted to be with her for a long time, and he wanted her to know that. He felt so safe and comfortable with her in his arms. He felt so loved and he loved the feeling of loving some one else.  
  
He felt whole. He felt as though nothing could go wrong, because now he had Hermione.  
  
Well, at least he hoped he had Hermione. They had a lot of talking to do. There was no denying that.  
  
Speaking of talking. There was some one that he wanted to talk to.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Harry opened the door to his apartment. Only to be met by a balled fist, flying at his jaw.  
  
"Damn you Harry Potter" Ron said.  
  
"Ron, what the" Harry exclaimed, rubbing his jaw. Suddenly, Harry's arms were filled with Ron.  
  
"Damn you Potter, but may who ever wants the honor bless you also. You are an idiot, but you are a clever idiot" Ron complimented, entering the apartment and throwing himself onto the sofa. Harry kicked his apartment door shut and followed his friend in.  
  
"Ok, Ron, what the hell are you talking about?" Harry asked. Ron had never intentionally hit him before. There had been a few accidents (or, at least the boys called them accidents) when Ron's elbow had slipped into Harry's ribs, but never before has there been fist to face connection. They had never had reason or means to be violent towards each other.  
  
"You are a pure genius, and I am not sure you even knew you were doing it" Ron replied happily, swinging his legs up onto the safe and stretching out comfortably, closing his eyes and smiling.  
  
"Are you suppose to be making any sense" Harry asked, sitting on the coffee table so that he could talk to his friend. Ron cracked open one of his eyes and grinned.  
  
"I got things together with Hermione." Ron told him. Harry smiled. He was happy for his friends, finally they had realized what was obvious to every one with eyes. Harry had realized it ever since they were in fourth year that there was a high chance his friends would end up together.  
  
"You got things together with Hermione, that is great, so the two of you are dating now?" Harry asked. Ron looked at him. That was a very good question. Were they dating now? Ron had no clue. He would have to talk to her first.  
  
As much as Ron hated to admit it, he knew there was a chance that Hermione might not want him.  
  
"Well, that is the thing, I don't know" Ron admitted truthfully. Harry looked at him, confused.  
  
"How can you not know if you are in a relationship with some one." Harry asked. Ron chuckled. Only when Harry said it did Ron realize just how silly it did sound.  
  
"I haven't really spoken to her since she left" Ron told him.  
  
"She left, when did she leave?" Harry asked. Ron shrugged.  
  
"She left just after she woke up, I guess" Ron replied honestly. Harry scratched his head.  
  
"Ron, where did she wake up?" He asked suspiciously.  
  
"In my bed"  
  
"After you did what? Oh, Ron you didn't" Harry sighed.  
  
"Yeah, after we did" Ron replied, trying to fight the smile that was creeping onto his face. He didn't want to cheapen the experience from the night before. He was not the one to kiss and tell, but he couldn't stop the boyish smile on his face.  
  
"Ron, ever thought that maybe you just stuffed up the delicate relationship that you had built with Hermione" Harry asked, Ron sighed. Trust Harry to say something like that. Trust Harry to be the one to bring him crashing back down to earth.  
  
"Well, I had not thought of that, but I have now, thanks a bunch Potter" Ron replied. He had the intense urge to hit him again.  
  
"Sorry man, just stating the obvious" Harry told him as Ron stood and began pacing the living room.  
  
"Well, I did not need that" He exclaimed.  
  
"Ron, I think the problem is that you are to self assured. When you woke up this morning, did you automatically think that Hermione would still be sharing your bed?" Harry asked. Ron nodded.  
  
"It was a shock when she was gone. No girl had ever done that to me before." Ron admitted. Harry shook his head at his friend.  
  
"Ever thought that maybe, just maybe, she is not as confident as you when it comes to things like this. You know what Hermione is like. Well, what she used to be like, she may have changed." Harry told his friend.  
  
"So what do I do now?" Ron asked.  
  
"I don't know, women are so damn hard to work out" Harry replied. "But maybe you should tell her what you are thinking"  
  
"Tell her that I love her?" Ron asked.  
  
"If that is what you feel for her" Harry told her.  
  
"That is what I feel for her." Ron muttered, slightly more to himself than to Harry.  
  
"Then I think that you should tell her. Don't let her get away from you" Harry told him. Ron looked at his best friend with mild suspicion, it sounded oddly like Harry was speaking from some sort of experience with the matter.  
  
"But how? When? I don't know where she is, and I am not sure if she is going to come home." Ron said, he sounded a little worried.  
  
"I have an idea. Ron, get ready, you are going to a quidditch game" Harry smiled. Ron looked at him oddly.  
  
How was a quidditch game suppose to help him? 


	9. Chapter 9

Second Last chapter, enjoy.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Harry picked up his phone and dialed the familiar numbers. He knew this conversation would be hard to have, but he had no choice, he had to talk to her, he had to do it, for Ron and Hermione's sake.  
  
The phone was answered after three rings.  
  
"Hello?" the voice on the other end said. Harry took a deep, steadying breath.  
  
"Hey Ginny" Harry began; he could hear Ginny take a deep breath of her own.  
  
"Hello Harry, what can I do for you?" she asked civilly. She was almost choking on the awkwardness of the conversation. She had hardly spoken to Harry since the incident that had occurred at the beginning of that year.  
  
She had bumped into him at Diagon Alley while she was buying things for her work. They had gone to lunch together and caught up. It had been years since Ginny had spoken with Harry and it seemed that there was so much that they had to talk about, even a few elements of unfinished business.  
  
Truthfully, Harry had found out where Ginny would be that day, because he had every intention of 'bumping' into her and buying her lunch. Buying her lunch, and after so many years, finally telling her the truth.  
  
The truth being that Harry Potter was in love with Ginny. Always had been, ever since he was old enough to realize what love was. He had always had strong feelings for her, but it was now definitely love. He believed she had the right to know.  
  
He told her, and she had sat quietly for a few minutes. Of all of the things that Harry had expected, quietness was not one of them. He had expected her to throw something at him, or to reach out and hug him. He had expected her to yell and scream in anger, or to yell and scream in happiness. But never had he expected silence.  
  
Turns out Harry had been too late. Ginny was already dating some one. And from what she apologetically told Harry, she was in love and very happy.  
  
But of all the things said and done on that day, Harry had only really made on mistake. He had asked her who her boyfriend was.  
  
Ginny had hesitated, and that was when he realized that he would not like the answer. He braced himself, trying to prepare for the worst, but nothing could prepare him for the name that left Ginny's lips.  
  
Draco Malfoy.  
  
The girl Harry Potter loved was dating, and very much in love, with his mortal enemy. In love with the boy who had dedicated his life thus far into making Harry miserable. The boy who was, according to all concerned, evil.  
  
Ginny had been quick to defend Draco. Saying he was not like that, he had just been very misunderstood at school. Then Harry had made a second mistake.  
  
He insulted Malfoy.  
  
Ginny stated a few choice words, then stood, turned, and left the table, leaving the store and leaving Harry's life, but most of all, she was leaving him heart broken.  
  
But Harry had no choice but to call Ginny now, because he was not going to let the same thing happen to his best friends. He was going to make them admit their feelings to each other before some one else could storm in and screw it all up for them.  
  
"Sorry to call, but, I Hermione there with you?" Harry asked.  
  
"Yeah, she came around this morning, asking for advice on my brother, why?" Ginny asked.  
  
"I have Ron here with me, asking for advice on Hermione. I need you to do me a favor" Harry told her. Ginny took a deep breath.  
  
"Ok"  
  
"You have to make sure that Hermione comes to my quidditch game this afternoon" Harry told her.  
  
"Ok, I can do that" Ginny replied.  
  
"And get her to sit in the south stands, somewhere towards the middle row" Harry added. Ginny nodded.  
  
"Can I ask why?" Ginny asked, intrigued. Harry couldn't help but smile.  
  
"You'll see" Harry replied. There was an awkward silence, in which neither of them really knew what to say to one another.  
  
The silence was doing Ginny's head in, but words were failing her. She knew that she had hurt Harry on that day, but he had hurt her to. He had insulted her boyfriend.  
  
"How are you Gin?" Harry asked, breaking the silence.  
  
"I am good, and yourself?" She asked, hoping to break the ice between the two of them Ginny would have liked it if they could be friends again, she knew it would be hard, but she hoped that with time, they could rebuild a stable friendship.  
  
"I am getting better Ginny" He sighed. She nodded. Why was this so hard?  
  
"So"  
  
"Yeah, so" Harry repeated "I have to get going, get ready for the game and all. I hope to see you and Hermione there . maybe even Draco"  
  
"Thank you Harry" Ginny smiled. He was making an effort, and that was a good thing.  
  
"Bye." Harry said.  
  
"Bye" Ginny replied before hanging up the phone.  
  
"Oh Hermione, get ready to go to a quidditch game" Ginny called.  
  
Then Ginny stopped, and thought of something.  
  
How was quidditch supposed to help Hermione and Ron?  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
"I still don't see what quiddicth has to do with me and Hermione" Ron sighed. Harry rolled his eyes yet again.  
  
"You are going to tell her how you feel at today's game" Harry replied. Ron rubbed his forehead.  
  
"Don't you think it will be a whole lot more romantic if I did it where there is a fewer amount of alcoholics and gamblers?" Ron asked. Harry chuckled. "Over a nice candle lit dinner perhaps?"  
  
"I think the game is a perfect place to tell her how you feel. And the more people around to hear you the better." Harry replied. Ron looked at him as if he had lost his mind.  
  
"People are going to hear me, how embarrassing!" Ron exclaimed.  
  
"Exactly" Harry replied.  
  
"What do you mean exactly, you are just doing this to shame me out so that I can never show my face again at a Cannons game" Ron accused.  
  
"No, I am doing it to get you back for punching me" Harry joked. "You really haven't figured it out yet have you?"  
  
"Figured what out?" Ron asked. Harry sighed.  
  
"Hermione is a very modest person, she doesn't like to be embarrassed" Harry Began  
  
"No one likes to be embarrassed, I think that is the point" Ron replied thoughtfully. Harry glared at him for interrupting.  
  
"Do you remember all of the times at Hogwarts when she would hide her face or something because some one gave her a compliment." Harry asked. Ron nodded. He remembered, he used to enjoy giving Hermione hollow compliments just so he could see her blush (not that he thought about it, that was very mean)  
  
"What has that got to do with it?" Ron asked.  
  
"Are you sure you are not blonde under all that red?" Harry exclaimed. Ron couldn't help but chuckle at his friends insult.  
  
"I am having a blonde day, we are all entitled to one occasionally. You are going to have to spell it out for me, what is going on?" He asked.  
  
"You are going to tell her that you love her in front of every one at the game" Harry told him.  
  
"Wont that embarrass her?" Ron asked.  
  
"No mate, it will embarrass you"  
  
~*~*~*~*  
  
Ron watched as the crowds soon filled the stadium, thousands of people, most dressed in orange. His hands were shaking, was he really game enough to go thorough with this. Was he really going to be able to tell Hermione his true feelings in front off all of these people.  
  
He glanced across at Harry, who was standing beside him, watching the stadium fill. He adjusted his arm guards and then looked back at Ron.  
  
"What are you thinking Ron?" Harry asked, Ron took a deep breath and looked back at him.  
  
"How much I want to hit you right now" Ron replied, turning away from the vision of the growing crowds.  
  
"You hit me in advance this morning, remember" Harry joked, rubbing his jaw again. His jaw didn't hurt, he was just doing it to make Ron guilty.  
  
"Sorry about that" Ron replied. Harry smiled and patted him on the shoulder.  
  
"Just think of what it will be like after this" Harry began "Just you and Hermione"  
  
"And hundreds of thousands of laughing Cannons fans" Ron muttered. Harry couldn't help but chuckle.  
  
"Are you ready for this?" Harry asked.  
  
"No time like the present I guess" Ron replied, and then walked out onto the quidditch field.  
  
In the crowd, in the south stadium, Ginny tugged on Hermione's sleeve.  
  
"Look, is that Ron?" Ginny asked. Hermione squinted down at the man who was standing on the pitch.  
  
"I don't know, I cant see him properly" Hermione said. Draco reached into his pocket and pulled out a pair of Omnioculars, handing them to Hermione. She smiled at him and then pressed the zoom on it.  
  
"It is, it is Ron" Hermione replied "What is he doing?"  
  
Ron looked around the stadium. He was so nervous, it had been a long time since he had seen this many people in the one place, and knowing that he would have to shame himself in front of all of them was not helping his nerves.  
  
He just had to remember he was doing it for Hermione.  
  
Reaching into his pocket, Ron pulled out his wand and turned it onto his throat.  
  
"Sonorus"  
  
"Umm, excuse me everyone, can I have your attention please" Ron began, running his shaking hands through his hair. The stadium started to quiet down.  
  
"What is he doing?" Hermione asked. Ginny shrugged and held onto Hermione's arm before turning back to her brother.  
  
"There is something that I wish to say . I am in love" Ron began. Ginny and Hermione both gasped "I am in love, but the woman I love doesn't know it. And I guess I am here today to tell her"  
  
Ginny held Hermione's hand in hers, squeezing it tightly.  
  
"This girl is the best thing that ever happened to me. And I think that I am just stupid enough to stuff it all up. If I haven't stuffed it up already. But I love her, I love her with all that I am, and I think that I would have to be the luckiest man alive if she loved me back. I don't deserve it, but I am going to be selfish, and ask for her love anyway" Ron said. Hermione sighed and buried her head into her hands. This was so embarrassing, surely Ron knew that she hated embarrassment.  
  
"The girl that I love is here, and is she did as I kind of set, she would be sitting in over there, somewhere" Ron said, pointing to the south stands, this just made Hermione hide her face even more.  
  
"Don't let him say my name, don't let him say my name" Hermione mumbled. Ginny laughed and rubbed her back.  
  
"Hermione, I love you . " Ron began  
  
"He said my name" She groaned, but she couldn't stop the happiness from flooding her voice.  
  
"I love you, and I know I am a bit of a stuff up. You've that about me for over 10 years. But I love you, and I hope that some one up there thinks that I am good enough for you . I hope that you think I am good enough for you" Ron said.  
  
"I promise not to hurt you Mione, I would rather die than hurt you. We have been through so much together, and I want to go through so much more with you" Ron told her. "How about it Hermione"  
  
Hermione didn't know what to do. She couldn't move, she was half dying of embarrassment, half dying of happiness. Ron loved her.  
  
But she couldn't reply. She didn't know how to reply. She couldn't exactly stand and yell what she felt. She couldn't stand and do anything. Hermione was glued to the seat. She couldn't move. She could hardly breathe.  
  
Ron looked around the stand, hoping for any movement, any movement at all that showed that Hermione was even there. No one moved. No one even breathed. Ron stood, shaking.  
  
"Hermione?" He asked, some what sadly. Some one in the crowds started to laugh at him, and soon, all of them began to laugh. Thousands of people, laughing at Ron.  
  
He took his wand, shaking his head sadly, and muttered "Quietus"  
  
He turned to move away. He just wanted to go home. He had embarrassed himself in front of all these people, and it didn't even seem that Hermione was there. What a waste of time and effort.  
  
Hermione watched as Ron very sadly moved back towards the exit. He was walking away. He was leaving.  
  
It was then, that Hermione realized, that she wasn't the one who should have been dying of embarrassment, but he should be. And it looked very much like he was.  
  
Ron hated being shamed almost as much as Hermione did. It had taken a lot of guts for him to stand in front of all of these people and talk like that. He had embarrassed himself in front of all of these people, and it was all for her.  
  
But now he was leaving. She had to stop him. She couldn't let him walk away with out knowing her feelings.  
  
She stood "Ron"  
  
She yelled, but there was no way that he could hear her over the noise everyone else was making, he just kept walking.  
  
"Ron" She yelled again, and again, she was not heard.  
  
"Here Hermione, try this" Draco smiled, holding out his wand and saying "Sonorus"  
  
"Ron" She said again, but this time, her voice was magnified.  
  
Ron stopped, and turned to the southern stands. There was some one there, standing.  
  
"Ron" the voice called again. Ron smiled, it was Hermione. He moved to run to the stands.  
  
"Wait, Ron" Some one said from behind him. Ron turned around "Take this"  
  
Harry had thrust his Firebolt 12000 into Ron's hand.  
  
"Thanks man, for everything." Ron smiled.  
  
"What are you yapping for, go, Hermione is waiting for you" Harry slapped his best friend on the back. Ron jumped on the broom and then flew as fast as possible to the stands, dismounting, and then catching Hermione in his arms.  
  
Hermione quickly did the quieting charm on herself and then hugged Ron.  
  
"What do you say Hermione, will you love me the way I love you?" He asked.  
  
"I will love you that much and more Ronald Weasley" Hermione replied.  
  
"I am really sorry if I have been a jerk about the whole . everything" Ron replied. Hermione laughed.  
  
"Ron, you are a jerk, but you are my jerk" She smiled.  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Really!" She smiled. Ron laughed and hugged her tighter.  
  
"I love you" Ron smiled.  
  
"I love you too" Hermione smiled. "With all of my heart"  
  
The embrace tightened as Hermione brushed her lips softly against his. Every one in the crowd cheered for them.  
  
"But Ron"  
  
"Yes Hermione" He asked.  
  
"If you ever embarrass me in front of this many people ever again. I am going to have to kill you" She laughed. Ron just kissed her again.  
  
Around them, the game started, but nothing could pull them away from each other.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Ok, this is the second last chapter, there is only one more, and that is the epilogue  
  
Keep reading. 


	10. Epilouge

This is the last chapter, I hope you enjoy it.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*  
  
5 years later.  
  
Hermione sat, her feet resting on the railing of the back porch at the burrow. She sipped at her pumpkin juice and watched the action of the Weasley family barbeque unfold.  
  
This back yard had always evoked so many memories in Hermione. Memories of summer spent chasing Harry and Ron, Memories of long lazy days, relaxing under the trees, reading her books and ignoring the snide comments that the others sent her ways. Memories of safety, feelings of hope and love and longing for a safe future. Anticipation for the good, and for the bad, and it was all held here, she could remember the times, just by smelling the fresh grass, hearing the sound of the trees rustling.  
  
She remembered the times when she felt invincible.  
  
And this was one of those times. At that moment, while she sat, watching her family and friends, Hermione felt invincible.  
  
Under a tree in the corner, Ginny Weasley-Malfoy, pregnant with her first child, sat and watched her husband. Ginny watched, as her husband got along and co habitated with her brothers.  
  
No one ever thought they would see the day, that a Malfoy was welcome to dine with the Weasleys. But that day had come.  
  
After the Quidditch game, Ginny and Draco had had no choice but to tell every one. Ron worked it out first (obviously, because he had seen them together at the game). Ron had also had the honor of being the first Weasley man to break a Malfoy nose.  
  
But the amazing thing, Draco had let Ron hit him. Draco knew that the sooner every one got their anger out in the open, the sooner they could all try and form friendships.  
  
Needless to say, Draco had had his nose broken 6 times in a matter of days. Ginny was getting really good at healing charms.  
  
But the boys accepted it. Bill and Charlie had accepted it first, mainly because they didn't know what Draco had been like at school. True, they had all heard stories of Lucius Malfoy, but they did not know what the Younger Malfoy was like. With no past experience with him, they didn't have any false expectations.  
  
George, Fred, Percy and Ron had been harder to convince however. Percy had been the first to offer the hand of friendship to Draco. Percy had trusted Ginny's judgment. If Gin thought that he was a nice enough person to fall in love with, then surely he could see him as a nice enough person to be friends with. And besides, rejecting Draco would have meant losing Ginny, and Percy loved his sister to much for that.  
  
The twins took their time getting to know Malfoy. They were a little less trusting of him. But soon enough, a weak friendship was formed. It had been growing stronger over the years.  
  
Hermione had to bash Ron around the head to stop him from being so stubborn when it came to Draco. Hermione knew that Ron had issues with him, and even more issues now that Draco was with his little sister. But with a little help he had accepted his old enemy into his family.  
  
It had gotten to a point, that the boys were happy and proud when Draco came to them, asking permission to marry Ginny.  
  
They had been married for two years, two blissful years. And now, they were preparing to welcome their first child, things could not have been happier with them.  
  
Hermione, still sitting on the porch, glanced around the back yard, watching the boys. Watching, as Harry Potter threw a bread roll at Draco.  
  
That friendship had amazed everyone as well. Everyone knew that some thing had happened between Harry and Ginny to make them stop talking to each other for a while, but no one really knew what it was. After Ginny announced Draco to the family, Harry started to come around a lot again.  
  
Harry had taken it upon himself to rebuild his friendship with Ginny, and if that meant being friends with Draco, then he was going to be friends with him to.  
  
But Harry's life was panning out well. Three years before, Harry had been traded from the Cannons to the Monrose Magpies, making him one of the best seekers in the league, on one of the best teams in the league. Harry's trade had been one of the biggest deals in history, making the large sums of money for both Harry and the Cannons. Harry gave his share to his charities.  
  
He was even dating some one now, the seeker for the Holyhead Harpies, and as far as every one knew, they were both very happy.  
  
A noise inside the house pulled Hermione from her thoughts. She smiled as Aaron, Jay and Christopher, Percy's triplets, ran, screeching and laughing through the house before launching themselves at the men.  
  
"Hello Professor" Percy smiled. Hermione laughed as Percy sat beside her.  
  
Hermione had given up her job at the ministry, just as Percy had. It had been solely her decision, and it was definitely the right decision. Now she was teaching again. She was teaching Studies of ancient runes. And she was enjoying every minute of it.  
  
Well, she had been teaching, but she was taking a break, a few things had happen over the last few years. A lot of things had changed.  
  
Two days after the quidditch game, Hermione had moved into Ron's place, permanently. That was one of the easiest things that Hermione and Ron had to adjust to. Truth was, they didn't have to adjust at all, because, it all just felt right.  
  
At that point, Hermione still had her job at the ministry. But she was attending less and less. Jessie, her receptionist, had commented on it so many times. It had only been a matter of time before Ron had turned her into a sloppy, inefficient mess, compared to the well working machine that she had been.  
  
She didn't necessarily think that was a bad thing.  
  
The office just wasn't the center of her universe any more. Ron was. Her relationship with Ron was the center of her universe. She would spend hours behind her desk, just wondering what Ron was doing. It had even amazed her that a few times, she had had to pull Ron away from his desk.  
  
When the teaching position had opened up at Hogwarts, Hermione didn't have to think twice about it. She didn't want a desk job any more. She wanted to be out there, with students, making the lessons fun and worth while.  
  
Ron understood, and within days they had sold their apartment, and moved into a beautiful little cottage on the outskirts of Hogsmeade. Hermione could walk to work, and Ron could apparate.  
  
The next big decision they had made had been easy also. Hermione left her job for the summers break as Professor Hermione Granger, and returned Professor Hermione Weasley.  
  
Ron had asked her to marry him on a Friday, by Monday they were man and wife. They didn't consider this to be rushing into anything, because they were in love, and that was what they wanted.  
  
Molly Weasley had been shocked and offended that her youngest son had gone off and gotten married without telling her. So Hermione had agreed to have another wedding, this one for the benefit of friends and family.  
  
They had gotten married in the back yard of the burrow, another moment that this place had made her feel invincible.  
  
Hermione Weasley, she still loved the way that sounded. Every single day, it was fresh and still wonderful. Just the sound of her name could make her feel so alive. She occasionally got a shiver down her spine when some one would call on her in class, because nothing sounded better than the name Professor Weasley.  
  
Hermione sat, remembering the wonderful moments that had taken place over the years. All of them so special to her, all of them holding a great place in her heart.  
  
And the way she saw it, her life would only get better.  
  
"So, Hermione, when are you coming back to work" Percy asked. Hermione smiled at her brother in law.  
  
"When I feel like it" She replied. Percy laughed.  
  
"My brother has been a bad influence on you" Percy accused.  
  
"Maybe so, but I love him any way, and I love everything he has given me" Hermione told him. Percy nodded.  
  
"It is a great feeling when you know your life is complete, when you could want nothing else" Percy smiled, looking out into the back yard where his sons were climbing all over their uncles.  
  
"I am selfish, I think I will always want some thing more, but I want anything else" Hermione replied. She wasn't sure if Percy would understand what she meant, but he nodded.  
  
"I feel the same way, but nothing more can make us happy" Percy replied.  
  
It was true, nothing more could make her happier than what she was. Her life was complete.  
  
"But really Hermione, when are you coming back?" he asked. Hermione grinned.  
  
"When I feel that I can leave him" Hermione replied.  
  
"Who, Ron or ...." Percy began, but was interrupted by Ron, moving out of the house.  
  
"Hey, look who is awake" Hermione smiled, standing and moving to where Ron stood. In his arms, he delicately held a 2 week old baby with bright red hair and beautiful blue eyes. A splitting image of its father.  
  
"Yeah, I think he is hungry" Ron smiled at his wife, holding his newborn son in his arms.  
  
"He would be" Hermione smiled. "Is that what your problem is Darien, are you hungry"  
  
Ron laughed as he watched his wife speaking to his son. It was amazing how whole he felt when they were around.  
  
Hermione took her son, kissed Ron on the cheek, and then disappeared into the house where she could breast feed in privacy.  
  
Ron leaned against the railing on the porch, and watched his brothers, his sister in laws, his own sister, parents and his nieces and nephews as they played around in the back yard.  
  
He was happy, his life was complete. He had settled down, started a family.  
  
He was content.  
  
He remembered once that he had cursed Harry, and then told him that if any one saw fit, they should bless him also.  
  
Ron silently blessed his best friend, Harry was a genius, even if he didn't understand everything he had done.  
  
Harry had made two lives whole.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Hi every one, I hope that you liked this fic, I am finished it now.  
  
This actually turned out a hell of a lot shorter than I wanted it, but oh well.  
  
Thank you all for your reviews.  
  
I am going to admit some thing to you now, I never saw the movie sweet novemeber. I was just reading through the TV guide and it had a little like blurb for the movie and it seemed like a good idea. So here it is, and that is why no one died, because I didn't know some one died.  
  
Any way, I just spent the day at Warner Brothers Movie World, that place Is so cool, and they have this totally cool Harry potter and the Chamber of Secrets section. I highly suggest that if any of you are on Queenslands, Gold Coast in Australia, go and visit it. Oh yeah, and if you do go there, piss them off by proving them wrong on the simplist little Harry Potter facts. (Like if the dude says "This is were Harry Potter had a run in with Draco Malfoy" say "In the books yes, but in the movies, no" oh yeah, and the chick they have there that plays Mrs Weasley is a 20 year old skinny brunette) 


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